


The Mix Up

by buckyscrystalqueen



Series: The Mix Up [1]
Category: Supernatural, Supernatural AU
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-02-09 23:30:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 29,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18648322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buckyscrystalqueen/pseuds/buckyscrystalqueen





	1. Chapter 1

“Jen!” A man shouted behind you; the familiar name causing you to turn around on your way home from the little bookstore near Union Square that you loved. You looked, blankly at the crowd of men on the busy, snow covered Manhattan streets. Your blue eyes settled on a slightly older gentleman, that was surprisingly not your twin’s type at all as he waved and jogged to catch up with you. “Hey, what happened to you?”

“I’m sorry?” You inquired as you held your Italian Greyhound, Gizmo in his puffy blue coat a little closer to your chest to protect him.

“The other morning… I got out of the shower, and you were…”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I’m not Jen.” You said with a shake of your head. “I’m her twin, (Y/N).”

“Oh, shit.” The man said as he took a half step back out of your personal space. “Shit, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. It happens way more often than you would think. I don’t know why I pulled the short straw in this identical twin thing, but I have conversations like this at least once a week. I’m sorry to be the one to break it to you, but my sister is a little bit of a whore.”

“Well alright then.” He chuckled as he stuck his hand out. “I’m John. Sorry to bother you.”

“Oh, it’s not bother at all.” You giggled as you shook his hand. “It’s been happening for years.”

“Why do you put up with it?” He asked as he gestured in the direction you were both headed.

“Well, I don’t have much of a choice.” You sighed as you turned and continued on in the direction of home. “You saw her. She’s slightly sexually insatiable. So she goes after what she wants, and I grade her work.”

“You grade her work.” John clarified as he stopped to wait at the corner you usually caught a cab at beside you. 

“I’m such a polite sister, aren’t I?” You teased with a glance up at him as you crossed the street with him to keep talking. “I mean honestly, wouldn’t you pass judgement if you had smokin’ hot women walking up to you all the time thinking you were someone else and showing zero interest in you? Jen doesn’t play. So yea, I grade.”

“So what grade would I get?”

“See, you are gunna be a tricky one.” You told him as he gestured to the Union Station subway, and headed in once he got a slight nod from you. “You aren’t my sister’s typical type. Not in the least. Usually I deal with meat heads that think I’m lying to them and using the twin thing as a joke. You’re older which, again, not typical for her. You are professionally dressed, construction worker of some kind if I had to guess, which is new. You look like you can carry a conversation, and you’re very polite, seeing as though I’ve basically told you you’ve slept with a skank. Compared to the others, you’d get tens across the board. But maybe that score is slightly biased.”

“How so?” You shrugged and smiled up at him.

“Because you’re my type to a ’T’. It’s almost as if she slept with you for me.”

“Or she slept with me because I paid for her drinks.” He said as he stepped into the subway you hated riding after you.

“That’s another possibility.” You said with a nod. “Look, I’m really, really sorry. I know it doesn’t mean much coming from me but Jen is a… complicated woman. We both are…”

“You don’t have to apologize, sweetheart.” He said as he leaned against the door frame. “No offense, but I knew what I was getting myself into with your sister just by the dress she had on. I didn’t expect her to show me any sorta attention, and I sure didn’t expect her to even wait for me to leave the bedroom so she could slip out.”

“Well I’m still sorry.” You repeated as you took a step toward him to get out of the way for people coming and going. “Please forgive her…”

“Do you wanna get dinner some time? You can make up for her slipping out on me since I am really your type.” Your eyebrows shot to your hair line for half a second before you stumbled into his chest when the subway jolted to a start again.

“Do you really thing that’s a good idea?” You asked as you steadied yourself in the moving train. “I mean, you thought I was my sister who you’ve already slept with.”

“Yes, but you said it yourself.” He countered. “I’m your type. It’s like she slept with me for you.”

“Don’t you go twisting my words.” You laughed as you gently pushed his arm.

“Alright, how about this.” He said as he reached into his jeans pocket and grabbed one of his cards. “When you find yourself still thinking about me in… we’ll say three days, give me a call for dinner.”

“Cocky much?” You asked as you took the card from him and held it up between your fingers. “I’m gunna throw it out the second I get home.”

“We’ll see.” He said with a nod as he stood up straight when the subway slowed down for the next stop. “I’ll wait for your call.”

“Don’t hold your breath!” You yelled at his back as he jogged across the platform to grab another subway to get back to his home in Brooklyn, leaving you to take the train uptown with just your dog for protection.

——

“Did you do it on purpose?” You asked your sister as you walked into her massive, fourth floor bedroom of your shared 76th Street townhouse.

“Did I do what on purpose?” She called out from her closet where she was unloading shopping bags.

“That guy.” You snapped as you stood in the doorway of the walk-in closet that, when the pair of you got the house, used to be a bedroom. “John.”

“Who?” She asked as she turned around with a new Tory Birch outfit in each hand. You flipped the slightly dirty business card with a bent corner in your fingers and showed it to her.

“Early forties gentleman. You left while he was in the shower. Ring any bells?”

“Wasn’t me.” She teased with a giant, shit eating grin as she hung up the outfit. “Musta been the other twin.”

“Where did you find him?” You asked as you walked farther into the room and sat down on the lounge chair in the middle of the room.

“A bar in Brooklyn. I went slumming.”

“You’re a fucking bitch.” She simply shrugged as she continued hanging up clothes like she wasn’t screwing with people’s lives.

“He said he worked in Manhattan doing like air conditioners or something. I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention. I took one for the team because…”

“Because you’re a horrible human being. That’s why.” You groaned as you kicked some bags on the floor and laid out on the chair. She scowled at you as her cat, Mouse, took off like a rocket out of her hiding spot to hide from the noise.

“Don’t take your shit out on the Louboutin’s.” She said as she snatched the bag off the floor and grabbed the shoe box from inside. “I did you a favor.”

“You did that man a disservice.” You sighed. 

“Wrong.” She said as she put the shoes away with the rest of her collection. “I slept with a guy that I knew had a chance of running in to you to get you out of your little nerd shell. I knew he was working on the air conditioner at Nordstrom’s by Union and I knew you’d be picking up that book you won’t shut up about this week. I did you a favor. You should be thanking me…”

“Do you even understand how wrong this is?” You asked as you got up to grab a different pair of Louboutin heeled boots she had just bought to try them on even though you knew they’d fit since they fit Jen.

“It’s not though… you’re not keeping those.” She said as she glanced over at you in her shoes. “Buy your own. Look, can you just accept that this guy is your type, and that you need to get out there and date? It’s been three years. I saw this guy, knew you’d like him, and I forced your hand, hoping that you would run into him and give him a chance. Call him. You know you want to. Even if I was the one to score with him first.”

“You’re fucking impossible.” You said as you pulled off the shoes to put them back before you left her room. “Don’t do this shit, Jennifer. I can find my own dates if I want to.”

“Yea but you didn’t.” She called out after you as you walked out of her closet to head down the stairs to your bedroom floor. “You’re welcome!” You scrunched your nose as you turned right when you hit your floor to go to your bedroom, while looking at the card in your hand. Almost as if she was reading your mind, Jen pushed the button of the speaker system that ran through all five floors of your house. “Call him!”

“Fuck you!” You screamed as you flopped down on your bed beside Gizmo. You looked at the card for a few moments as your cat, Milo, jumped up on your bed to say hello as well, before tossing it on the table beside your bed with a sigh. “So fucking stupid.” You said as you scratched your Russian Blue’s head, making him close his eyes, and start to purr.

——

“I’m not gunna call him.” You told Milo as you got dressed to go shopping for a charity gala Jen was hosting the next night on day three. “Not doing it.” Your cat meowed at you as he sat on the bathroom counter, watching you put your make up on. You threw your make up sponge down on the counter angrily, hating that you were still thinking about this man like he had said you would. “He’s not even that cute.” You said, trying to convince yourself that you were not interested. “He’s going grey.”

“Meeerroow.” Milo said as he reached out to bat at your bowl of q-tips.

“He’s… he’s…” You tried as you leaned forward toward your mirror to put on your mascara. You caught your own eye and instantly scowled, knowing that there was no amount of convincing you could do to tell yourself you didn’t want to date this guy. “Mother fucker.” You finished the mascara quickly and threw it on the counter with the rest of your makeup so you could grab your phone and John’s business card. You punched in the numbers so hard you thought your screen would break from the impact and put the call on speaker on your way back to your closet so that you could get dressed while you talked.

“Winchester Air.”

“I hate you.” You said as you set your phone on a shelf on your way over to find an outfit. “I really, really hate you.”

“(Y/N)?” John asked with a slight chuckle. “I knew it.”

“Shut up.” You snapped as you tossed a possible outfit on the island in the middle of the closet. “When are you free?”

“Well.” He said over some loud pounding in the background. “Do you think I could drag Ms. It Girl to Brooklyn for dinner tonight?”

“You can try.” You said as you threw another outfit back over your shoulder. “I do kick and scream. How did you know…”

“I can use Google.” He said before you could finish as you moved from nicer shirts to dresses.

“Well, can you use Google to find me an excuse to get me out of this shopping trip I don’t want to go do?” You asked as you grabbed a couple dresses and held them up in front of your body in the mirror that ran along the entire wall by the door.

“You could say you fell on a subway platform and sprained your ankle.”

“I’ve only been on a subway once in my life, and that was to talk to you.” You told him as you hung the dresses in your hand back up to move back to your tops.

“I thought women loved shopping.”

“You haven’t seen my closet.” You told him as you settled on just a pair of plain black jeans and a loose fitting turtle neck sweater top. “I’m constantly shopping for shit I’ll only wear once because God forbid I get photographed in the same dress at two different charity events. And Jen is no help, she spends half her life shopping so she’s always prepared. I wait until the last minute, and I always end up going alone, and it takes forever because I never know…”

“Well, you want company to make it a little more fun? I’m wrapping up this job way earlier than I expected so I don’t really need to be here, today.”

“Do you look all rugged and construction worker-y?” You teased as you grabbed a jacket for Gizmo so he wouldn’t be cold.

“Umm… I didn’t have time to shave this morning or I would have missed the subway into the city if that’s what you wanna know.”

“That’s not what I was getting at, but I’ll take it.” You laughed as you grabbed a pair of boots and your phone. “Just wrap up whatever you gotta. I’ll send a car so you don’t have to deal with the cold and the subway and all that.”

“Sweetheart, you don’t have to…” He tried as you got Milo off your counter so he wouldn’t destroy your bathroom while you were gone and put him on the bed beside your other fur child.

“I know. But I want to.” You said as Gizmo got up and started shaking uncontrollably once he realized he was going for a ride. “I’ll see you soon.”

——

“This is all the red you have.” You clarified as you looked at the small rack of dresses in Alexander McQueen on Madison Ave. The designer, Sarah Burton, nodded her head.

“You caught me last minute, (Y/N).” She said as you pulled a strapless black and red dress off the wrack that you actually liked. “I pulled everything.”

“No, I know I’m super late on this.” You said as you looked at a halter dress that had a small triangle missing under the chest above two flowery diamond patterns. “I’m just grateful that you have anything for me. You know as much as I do how much I hate this shit.”

“I know.” She agreed with a nod as you both looked back at a knock on the currently covered glass doors.

“He’s with me.” You said as you turned back to the rack. “Alright, let’s break out the double stick and start with this one.” You sighed as you held the dress up and turned back toward John, who looked so uncomfortable as he handed one of the associated his worn leather jacket. “What do you think, John?”

“Of what?” He asked as he looked up at you. “The dress? It’s… very red.”

“It has to be. It’s an all red party. Grab a seat, have a beer. You can help me zip in a minute.” With a slight nod of his head, he grabbed a seat in the middle of the small store while the two lead associates scrambled to get John a cold beer and you your tape under the watchful eyes of their boss, who would probably fire them on the spot if they caused her to lose one of her biggest accounts. “So how was work?”

“Boring.” He called out as he took the bottle of Budweiser with a small smile. “There’s not much you can say about installing air conditioners.”

“I mean, I know nothing about installing air conditioners so I would’t know.” You said as you pulled the viscose material up over your hips. “So feel free to educate while you come zip.” You heard his chair creak the slightest bit and the soft thud of his steel toed boots walk across the carpeted floor as you pulled the dress up over your currently bare DD’s. “Do you like it at least?” You asked as you moved your hair our of the way to he could clip the hook and eye at the back of your neck.

“It makes ends meet.” He said as he pulled a pair of readers out of his pocket and put them on so he could see better. “Keeps my boys fed, pays the alimony.”

“Ouch.” You said as you looked up at him in the mirror. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” He said with a shake of his head as he pulled up the small zipper, forcing himself to look at your eyes and not your thong covered ass. “We were toxic together. Fighting all the time. Getting divorced was the best thing that could happen… What’s that do?”

“It’s tape.” You said as you tapped the dress to your breasts just to see the full look. “Makes it so my boobs don’t make a surprise appearance on the red carpet.”

“I wouldn’t complain.” He muttered under his breath as he took off his glasses and followed you out into the shop to the main mirrors.

“Didn’t think you would.” You giggled as you stepped up on the little platform.

“You’re purse is moving.” John said as Sarah came over to look at the fit. You looked over your shoulder as Gizmo jumped out of his carrier and stretched after his nap.

“Oh, that’s just Gizmo.” You said with a shrug. “He’s a rescue with some severe separation anxiety issues so he tags along everywhere I go.”

“I can take him out for you, Ms. (Y/L/N).” One of the associates said as she came over with a small smile. You nodded your head as you turned to the side to look at the dress.

“Is it me or is it bunching strange here?” You asked with a shake of your head as you gestured to the ruching at your hips and pelvis area. “It’s adorable otherwise.”

“I think it may just be too big.” Sarah said as she tried to pull the material a little tighter at your hips while you turned around to get John’s opinion.

“I want honesty.” You said as you looked at him. You could see the slight hesitation in his eyes as he tilted his head to the side. “Honesty, John. Don’t make me look like a fool. I won’t be offended.”

“It looks like it’s trying to swallow your boobs in material, which is actually kinda surprising since they’re… pretty prominent.”

“That’s what I wanted, thank you.” You said with a smile as you pulled the tape free and headed back toward the fitting room. “So how old?”

“Who?” John asked after a moment when he realized that no one else was answering.

“Your kids.” You said as you stopped in front of him and moved your hair out of the way again. “How old are they?”

“Oh. Well Dean is thirteen, and Sam is nine.”

“Both boys?” You asked as you held up the material and grabbed the black and red dressed that you were silently praying fit perfectly.

“Both boys.” He confirmed as he walked over to help your dog back in your bag so he could get warm again before grabbing his beer. “I get them at least every other weekend.”

“See, that sucks.” You said as you stepped into the strapless silk dress. You held it up to your chest and walked back out of the fitting room to get zipped up. “I’m sorry, hun.”

“Don’t be.” He said with a small shrug. “It’s been six years of sharing them, and it’s not just a weekend thing much anymore. Mary works as a waitress and she’s always working random shifts so the boys come stay with me those nights. Wow.” A small smile pulled at the corner of your lips as you stood in front of the mirrors and looked at the embroidered bustier with layered skirt gown.

“You think?” You asked as you grabbed a piece of tape from one of the woman to keep the perfectly fitted dress to your chest.

“Looks a lot better than the other one I think. But I don’t know shit about fashion…”

“No, you’re right.” You said as you turned around to face him to look at the back. “See, that would have taken me hours to do without you.”

“I’m just here for the beer.” He teased as he tilted his bottle toward you. “Has nothing to do with the company.”

“Haha, you’re so funny.” You said, sarcastically as you went over for him to unzip you. “So you still wanna do dinner tonight?”

“I could do dinner.” He said with a nod. “You wanna just meet me at my house around six-thirty? It’s not a five star restaurant or anything…”

“It sounds perfect to me.” You said as you turned around in front of him with your new dress held to your chest. “You’ll learn, I may have money but I am much more relaxed that my sister.”

“I hardly know you and I can already see that.” He said with a warm smile.

“Oh, you have no idea.”

~~~~~~~~~~

“Well isn’t this cute.” You cooed as you walked into John’s four bed, two bathroom home in Marine Park. “I love this… oh, big dog. Big dog!” You squeaked and jumped back behind John as you held your purse a little tighter to protect Gizmo.

“Bones, no!” John said as he quickly grabbed the golden retriever’s collar while Gizmo started to bark in your bag.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” You cried as you tried to keep your dog in your bag while John tried to push his back toward the kitchen.

“Just… let me put him up in Sam’s room. Hold on.” He nearly shouted over Bones as you tried to push Gizmo back into your bag. You nodded your head and turned your back on him to scold your dog, who knew better than to instigate dog fights. Once the two dogs were settled in their separate spaces, you shook our head at John.

“I am so, so sorry. I didn’t even think to ask if I could bring him.”

“Hey, it’s fine.” He chuckled as he grabbed a bottle of wine and some glasses from L shaped kitchen counter on his way back in to the the open floor plan living room. “It’s nothing fancy. Just something I picked up at the grocery store…”

“OK, let’s just take a step back.” You said as you held up your hand with a smile. “First of all, if you look at me like some rich, spoiled brat, this can’t go much farther than here. Because I am not my sister. Not in the least bit. Sure, I spent 45 grand on a dress today that I’ll probably wear once maybe twice… but I also recently spent almost three grand to buy out a movie theater just so I could watch the new Marvel movie in theaters alone… which was fucking amazing, by the way. And if I’m being super honest, I don’t like wine. Hate it, actually. I drink it at formal events but give me a mixed drink or beer any day. I mean, I have a Breakfast Club t-shirt on because I want to be comfortable.” You said as you set your purse down on the couch for a moment to finally take off your jacket. 

“This is me.” You said as you set your jacket on the arm of the couch and held out your arms. “I’m a nerd and I absolutely love it. I just unfortunately have an image to uphold sometimes and you… also unfortunately for your sake, have met me on a week where I have to be more socialite than myself. But if I had to choose between a red carpet and comic con, you can bet your ass I’ll be at comic con. Which is why I’m still single. Because the guys that should date socialites would rather go clubbing over going to watch a Star Wars marathon.”

“Who’s your favorite?” He asked as he nodded his head slowly, and turned back around toward the kitchen.

“Favorite what? Giz, come here.” You asked as you tried to corral Gizmo back into your bag.

“He’s fine.” John said as he grabbed two beers from the fridge. “Favorite Star Wars character.”

“OK, wrong.” You said as you took off Gizmo’s jacket and put it in your bag so he could explore, and not get too hot. “That’s like asking which Harry Potter character is the best.”

“I haven’t seen those yet.” He confessed as he sat down and handed you a local IPA called Evil Twin Hipster Ale. “But Sam loved them…”

“This isn’t funny.” You said as you showed him the label, teasingly.

“I thought it was hilarious.” He said with a smile. “So come on, you gotta pick a favorite.”

“OK, OK.” You said as you sat back against the couch. “Can we do it by movie groupings? Because then it’s Leia from the first set, Yoda from set two, and Kylo Ren so far from set three with a splash of BB8 because he’s adorable.”

“Alright, I like it.” He said with a nod. “But I’d say Hans Solo all the way through.”

“Alright, I can give you that one.” You said with a nod. “He’s entertaining. Please tell me that you’ve at least taught Dean the awesomeness that is Star Wars.” John sighed deeply as he leaned back as well.

“I think I messed up a bit with teaching him. I started with four and he was just not having it.”

“He’s not a nerd.” You said with a shake of your head. “He’ll never understand.”

“He takes after my ex-wife with that.” He said as he set down his beer for a moment and got up to grab a photo off the fireplace mantle. “She hated Star Wars.”

“She just doesn’t get it.” You said as you scooted over to look at the photo. “Oh, my God they are so cute.”

“This is Dean. My little trouble maker. That boy is… shit, he’s more and more like a little me every day and I just cringe… fuck, he’s so much trouble. He is the definition of karma to me. Sam is my little book worm. Smart as hell… don’t know where he gets it, either. Not that kinda smarts. There are moments where he just spits out facts and… sheeww… right over my head.”

“What does he wanna be when he grows up?” You asked as you looked over at him. John chuckled and shook his head as he put the photograph on the coffee table.

“A fire fighter. But he was scared of the fireplace when he was younger, and he still walks in a wide arch around it when there’s a fire when he thinks no ones looking so I highly, highly doubt the fire fighter thing will pan out.”

“I’ll bet lawyer.” You said as you picked up your beer and moved back far enough for Gizmo to jump up and curl up between the two of you. “Lawyer, or something on Wall Street.”

“I’d second the lawyer thing.” He said as he got up to turn off a buzzer. “Dinner’s ready. I really, really wish I had asked you about allergies.”

“None.” You said as you grabbed both your drinks, and headed into the kitchen. “Not picky either. And unlike my sister, I don’t give a shit about any kinda diet because for whatever reason, I was blessed with a killer metabolism so I could live on pizza, pasta, cake, and ice cream and not gain weight.”

“Well it’s a good thing I cheated and have left over apple pie and ice cream for dessert from Dean’s birthday a couple days ago, and didn’t do like stereotypical sugar free, diet whatever.”

“I still probably would have eaten it anyways.” You laughed as you walked over to help. “Where are the plates or silverware?”

“Nope.” He said as he pulled off the foil to let the baked ziti cool before he served it. “My house, my date, my rules. You just sit, and look pretty.”

“Well that’s so hard.” You laughed as you turned to sit down at the table to wait. “It smells delicious.”

“I’m not gunna lie, it’s maybe one of the only dishes I know I can cook really well.”

“Oh no.” You said as he served up plates. “Honestly, I have never cooked before in my life.”

“Well we’re both screwed then.” He laughed as he came over and set your plate in front of you. “Looks like lots of take out in our future.”

“How about for date number two, we do a cooking class or something, then?” You asked as he grabbed two small salads, and two more beers from the fridge.

“Look at you assuming I want a second date with you.” You gasped and instantly fake pouted as he grabbed and set down some bread and sat down beside you with a giant, handsome smile. He looked over at you as he laid his napkin across his lap and pouted back. “Aww.”

“You’re not very nice.” You joked as you stuck up your nose. “I don’t wanna eat dinner with you any more.”

“Fine, I’ll go eat with the dogs then.”

“No, don’t leave me!” You squealed as he started to get up from the table. “Or no second date.”

“Well now I have to stay.” He said with a smile as he sat back down, and picked up his fork. “Because I definitely want a second date. And maybe even a third. Who knows.”

“That’s what I thought.” You said with a nod of your head. “You finally realized I’m awesome.”

“I mean, you wore a Breakfast Club t-shirt and you like Star Wars.” He said as he gestured to your upper body with his fork. “You are pretty awesome.”

——

You felt like you fit perfectly against John’s side as the pair of you sat in front of his roaring fire, watching the first Iron Man movie so that if he was still around, you’d have a date to the new Avengers movie. You couldn’t pay attention to the movie at all because the light brush of his fingertips creating a soft, steady, circular pattern on your arm was short circuiting your brain. His steady heart beat and the gentle rise and fall of his chest were the most amazing soundtrack to the night. You couldn’t help but smile every time John would reach down to make sure you were covered with the blanket so you weren’t too cold, and you just died a little inside in joy every time he would lay his cheek on the top of your head to not so subtly kiss the top of your head.

Half way through the movie, he got up to stir the fire; stepping around Bones and Gizmo who had become friends during their after dinner walk, and who were currently curled up in Bones’ bed to stay warm. He came back and easily shifted you on the couch so that when he laid down, you were laying between his legs on his chest. You looked up at his questioning look through your lashes and smirked as you got comfortable again in your new position. You could tell his heart beat had speed up a bit in those few seconds with the fear of being rejected as he pulled the blankets over his legs and up to your shoulders for you.

“Stay here tonight.” He whispered as the credits started to roll. “It’s cold, and it’s snowing…”

“John…” You huffed as you looked up at him at the same time he wrapped his arms and legs around you so that you couldn’t get up.

“It’s really cold.” He tried as he looked out the window, pointedly. “Snowing…”

“John, that doesn’t change the fact that it’s our first date…”

“Snowing.” He chuckled as he rubbed your back. “Look, I don’t remember anymore of that song, so you might as well just stay.”

“You’re impossible.” You laughed as you laid your head back down on your chest. You groaned after a moment and nodded your head. “Just because it is really freaking cold and I don’t wanna deal with dragging a driver to Brooklyn at this hour in this weather.”

“Yay. I win.” He said as he stretched underneath you to turn on the lights. “Want me to walk them before bed?”

“No, Giz won’t go.” You groaned as you forced yourself to leave the warmth under the blanket from his body. “Gizmo. Boots?” Your pup groaned as he looked over at you from where he had been hiding his face against Bones’ chest. “You gotta go for a walk, sorry Bub.”

“Let’s go, Bones.” John sighed as he laid your coat across your back as you picked up your dog to tighten his sweater and put on the ridiculous looking boots that, since the first time he wore them outside, he refused to go for a walk without them. It took a little corralling to convince two dogs (and two people) to go outside for a short walk down the road.

“It should be illegal to be this cold.” You said with a slight shiver as you carried Gizmo back into John’s house.

“I’ve got a space heater up in the bedroom, don’t worry.”

“Oh, perfect!” You breathed as you took off Gizmo’s boots and dropped them in your bag. You were so glad you always took your mother’s advice in keeping a hidden spare pair of panties and a travel toothbrush in your purse. “Toothpaste?”

“Upstairs.” He said as he broke down the fire so it would burn out before he double checked the locked front and back doors. “Come on, it’s cold.” You nodded your head in agreement and followed him and his dog upstairs with Gizmo in your arms. With a yawn, you stepped into the master bedroom and dropped your purse on the bed and put your dog on the floor. “I’ve got nothing girly…”

“The shirt I have on is just fine.” You said as you sat down to take off your boots. “Do I need to impress you with girly?”

“You impress me just fine without the girly nightgown, sweetheart.” The pair of you moved around the sort of small bedroom and around the two dogs to get ready for bed. You had to admit that the little air conditioner slash heater in the wall was probably the greatest thing in the world and would also probably cut your nearly one and a half thousand dollar winter electric bill in half.

“Oh, holy shit.” You gasped when you laid down on the waveless water bed you absolutely weren’t expecting. “Oh, my God, is this a water bed?”

“It’s easier on my back.” John chuckled as he threw back the blankets on his side and climbed in behind you. “Installing air conditioners all day long does a number on your body.”

“I like this.” You said as you wiggled to make the mattress move. “Oh, I really like this.”

“Mary hated it.” He said as he scooted closer and held his arm, and the blanket up for you to cuddle close. “So did your sister.”

“Can we not talk about your ex wife, and my twin sister when we’re both half naked in your bed?” You asked as you tucked your head in the crook of his neck so your ice cold nose was pressed up against his shoulder.

“Deal.” He agreed as he wrapped you in his arms and gently put his hand on your hip. “Good night, sweetheart.”

“Not even gunna try to make a move?” You asked after a moment.

“I may be a man.” He said as he shifted his head on his pillow. “But I am a respectable man. I don’t need to sleep with every woman I find attractive, especially if I want more than just a fling with them. You, I want to see if a relationship develops. Your sister did a really good job in setting herself up as if she were you but in my defense, I had been drinking which is why I slept with her that night. I knew you were a nerd before you even got here. Didn’t know you were a twin. Just a nerd. Which is why I was so fucking excited to run into you on the streets.”

“I seriously hate her.” You groaned.

“I don’t.” He said with a shake of his head. “She set us up. And while I regret sleeping with her, I don’t regret meeting her. Because if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have met you.” You pulled your head back to look at his small smile as he slid his hand down your side to rub your back. “I’ve been alone for six years. I had all but given up on finding someone I can actually see myself getting to know. You were put in my life at the most perfect time possible. So no, I won’t make a move until you are ready. But I will absolutely try to get every moment I can with you while I wait. Because your smile is infectious. And you aren’t trying to be someone you think I want. You giggle and scrunch your nose when you’re embarrassed. And you talk to me as if I’m your equal…”

“Why wouldn’t you be?” You asked as you reached up to brush your fingertips across the scruff on his cheeks.

“I can give you a billion reason’s why. One of them being that the dress I helped zip you in to today cost more than all the bills I pay a month for my household, and the alimony and child support I pay. And you’re only going to wear it once.”

“I…” You tried as he ran his hand up your side to your shoulder.

“No, it’s OK.” He said with a nod. “I’m not gunna let it get to me. I obsess about money in this situation, I lose. It’s nice though, I don’t have to worry about you spending the money for the electric bill on a new Channel bag…”

“Chanel.” You interrupted. “And I prefer Coach…”

“And I don’t have to work overtime to pay for it, so I’m happy.” He chuckled. “But I do have to work in the morning, so I need to get some sleep.”

“See I love going to bed on the same day I wake up.” You sighed as you scooted back against his chest to stay warm. “Points, Winchester. Points.”


	2. Chapter 2

“So you were out late last night.” Jen said casually as she came in to your bathroom with her usual hired hair stylist and make up artist to get ready with you for the gala. You looked over at the small group and sighed as they started setting up on the counter beside you.

“I was home and in bed at six PM…” You lied as Jen tossed her hair towel toward the door and adjusted her dressing robe before sitting down in the chair the hair stylist brought down from her room. 

“You don’t lie very well.” She said as she looked at you in the long mirror with her eyebrow raised. “You never have…”

“Alright, so I stayed over at his house, OK?” You said as you looked over at her. “Shut up!”

“Was he any good?” She asked loudly with a giant shit eating grin over the sound of both your hair blow driers.

“You would know.” You retorted. “You slept with him.”

“I faked it because I didn’t even care.” She said as she looked over at you. She whacked at the hair drier for a moment until both hair stylists turned them off. “Look, I spent the whole night pretending to be you. I only gave him my name because that way, when you ran into him on the street, you’d know where he was coming from and he didn’t come off as some stalker. But other than that, I did my best to talk about your favorite movies which I know shit about. And I told him about that trip to Comic Con you dragged me too last year. I told him your favorite foods and your favorite drinks… and let me tell you, I am still not a fan of rum and coke. But I suffered through it so that he was interested in you. Not me. But the only reason I went back to his house is… well I figured I’d get something out of the night. But you had to go and ruin it because I was thinking about you, so I had to fake it. And that’s the end of that story. So you date him, you do you, sissy. Because I did my job to get him to you. End of story.”

“You’re a pain in my ass, you know that?” You asked as you leaned over to kiss her cheek. “I love you.”

“I love you, too. Now… did you sleep with him?” With a roll of your eyes, you sat up straight and gestured for your stylist to continue.

“I slept next to him.” You said as you found her eyes in the mirror and grabbed a box of mixed dark and white chocolate truffles off the counter. “We slept together but we didn’t sleep together.”

“Oh, you’re no fun.” She said as she took a white chocolate truffle from the box and popped it in her mouth. “Fucking on the first date is almost mandatory.”

“I never fuck on the first date.” You said back around your dark truffle as your hair stylist put your dryer down to start curling your hair. “Never. I didn’t with James, I didn’t with Matt…”

“That’s where the two of us start being different.” She said as she leaned over to grab another chocolate. “You need to spread your legs more.”

“And you need yours stapled closed.”

“Is he coming tonight?” You shook your head and sighed as you grabbed one more chocolate and put the box down on the counter.

“I didn’t ask. He helped pick out the dress I’m wearing but I didn’t think it was appropriate to spring it on him. Besides, if you slept with him last weekend, he’s got his kids this weekend.”

“He’s got kids?” She asked as her brow furrowed. “Really?”

“Two boys.” You said with a nod as you kept your head straight forward so your makeup artist could start her job. “Nine and thirteen…”

“Widower or divorce?”

“Divorce. Six years ago.”

“Oh yea, that rings a bell.” She looked over at your slight scowl and shrugged. “What?”

“Just… you, sissy.” You sighed. “Whatever. So yea, two kids. Divorced. She’s got primary custody but he sees them a lot. She’s a waitress so her shifts swing.”

“He does construction, right?”

“He installs air conditioners for buildings, I think. I’m still trying to figure out exactly what his job is because don’t you just like, set up the box outside and string the hose thingys up through the rooms?”

“It’s a bit more complicated than that.” Your makeup artist said as she moved in front of you to start with your eyes before finishing up the rest of your face. “But that’s the general concept, yea. My cousin is a contractor and I’ve dropped him off lunch on the job site before. It’s a lot of hard work.”

“See that makes sense.” You said as you closed your eyes for her. “He has this no wave water bed that I could honestly just die in because from what he says it’s better for his back.”

“I hate that water bed.” Jen chimed in.

“And I love it.” You said as you peeked an eye open to see her. “And it’s a good thing that you don’t have to be in it again, right?” With a small smirk, she flipped you off and closed her eyes.

“You know you are gunna have to bring him here for dinner one night. And he’ll have to go out to California to meet the family…”

“You need to slow down with all that. We’re on step three, you’re talking about steps 20 and 50.”

“I’m just saying. He’s gunna have to come over here sometime.”

“Not happening any time soon.” You said with a shake of your head. “Absolutely not.”

——

“OK, date number two.” You said as you walked into John’s house for your date night with a couple different food bags. “I have surprises for you.”

“Oh, shit, I’m concerned.” John chuckled as he took Gizmo’s bag, and your bag of overnight clothes from you so you could head right into the kitchen to cook with him.

“You are not alone.” You laughed as you set your bags down on the kitchen table. “OK, so to start, I need a cast pan… I hope that’s what it’s called.”

“Do I want to know?” He asked.

“All I’m sayin’ is we’re traveling around the world tonight.”

“Alright because that honestly doesn’t sound ominous what-so-ever.” He said as you looked through the bags. 

“Alright so the butcher near my house said this is the best cuts he had.” You said as you pulled out two, ten ounce filet mignon’s wrapped in paper and an index card. “And this is how he said to cook them.”

“Damn it, baby. I thought we were keeping this simple.” He chuckled as he set the filets on the counter so they would get to room temperature.

“I kept it simple, alright?” You teased. “I just think your definition of simple, and mine is different.”

“You think?”

“Look, it was my night to cook and that’s what I’m doing here, OK? Now, for sides, I cheated and bought a Caesar salad.”

“OK.” He said with a nod as you opened the second bag and looked up at him.

“And sushi.”

“I should have known.” He laughed as he looked at the tray you had in your hands. “Damn it.”

“I kept it really simple.” You said as you moved to his side. “You said you like guacamole, and you liked crab. And you had cucumbers in your salad last time. That’s really all this is. This piece is a California roll and this one is just a Spicy Tuna. I only brought those two for you, and I brought a whole bunch of different sauces to go with them. If you really, really don’t like it, I did bring chicken fried rice…”

“I’ll try it.” He said with a smile as he took the container from you. “Just for you.”

“Yay.” You cheered softly as you gave him a little golf clap. “Trust me, I’ll get you eating the weird rich people foods in no time.”

“You think so.” He said as he put the salad and sushi in the fridge. “But I doubt it.”

“OK. So cast pan.”

“Cast iron pan.” He corrected as he put the rice off to the side and grabbed the skillet to get it heated. “Technically, all I have is a skillet, but that’s what we need here.”

“OK.” You said with a nod as you scratched the back of your jean clad let with the tip of your Coach boots.

“Now steaks are actually really easy.” He said as he glanced at the directions on the card before putting it off to the side. “But they are very tricky, too. So first, you gotta make sure the steaks are room temp and you have your oven preheated to 425 degrees.” You nodded your head as he set the oven and started grabbing spices from the cabinet. “Now filet doesn’t have as much fat as most steaks so you don’t have to worry about trimming it.”

“I feel like I should be taking notes.” You said as you jumped up on the counter to watch.

“I’ll teach you as many times as you need.” He said as he lined the spices up beside you before moving the two filets over as well. “Down. You’re gunna do it.”

“Really?” You asked as you jumped down off the counter.

“Really.” He said as he moved you in front of him. “I’ll spice yours, you can spice mine in case you do it wrong. But I’ll show you first so it’ll be fine.”

“You are putting an awful lot of faith in me, honey.”

“Pay attention, sweetheart.” He chuckled as he picked up the salt first. “This shit comes out fast. So when you are seasoning something, pour it in your palm first and do pinches. Especially for filets.” You nodded and watched closely before taking a pinch of salt from his palm to season the other steak. “Easy… good. Now pepper. If you have ground, you can do the same thing, or if you have a grinder, it’s just a couple twists.”

“OK, so this is super easy.” You said as you followed his actions.

“It is.” He helped you through the rest of the seasoning process, making sure every action he made was repeated exactly, before he moved on. He kept a watchful eye as you cooked the steaks for four minutes on the first side, before you quickly flipped them and let him put the whole pan in the oven to finish cooking.

“So seven minutes from here for the perfect steak.” He said as he pointed to the card. “At least, that’s what your butcher says. It all depends on how well you want them cooked. But while they cook, we set the table. Silverware…”

“This is so much.” You sighed playfully as you took the silverware from him.

“This is nothing.” He said as he grabbed plates and cups from another cabinet. “You’re just used to someone doing it for you. And I’m not gunna coddle you.”

“You’re not fun.” You said as you bumped his shoulder while laying out the silverware beside the plates he was setting out.

“I’m a lot of fun.” He kissed your temple and went over to grab the sides. You grabbed an extra plate and set out the sauces on it for the sushi, and turned to look at him as he started pulling pieces of foil from the box. “Now you gotta make a tent.” He said as he looked at the timer. “Quickly, sweetheart.”

“Wait, a tent?” You said as you set down the ginger sauce you had in your hand.

“Hurry, steaks are gunna burn.”

“Wait, no!” You screeched as you jogged the two steps over to him to make a hideous looking tent for over the steaks. You finished just as the timer was going off and you stepped out of the way as John pulled the skillet from the oven.

“You gotta move them to a plate.” He said as he grabbed one and set it beside the stove. “Quick, quick.”

“Oh my God, it’s all going so fast!” You laughed as you moved the steaks to the plate.

“Tent.” He instructed as he moved the skillet to the back of the stove. “Alright, you’re done.”

“What?”

“You’re done.” He said as he took a step back and gestured to his kitchen. “You cooked a meal.”

“Shut up.” You said as you looked over at him, sarcastically.

“We just gotta wait about five minutes for the steaks to get their last minute cooking, and you’re good. So you wanna finish the rest while we wait? I’ll get the beers…”

“Oh, I brought beer, too!” You said as you put down a spicy mayo and turned to get the bottle from a mini cooler. “I figured, fancy steak, fancy sides, we had to try the fancy beer.” You smiled as you pulled out the bottle of Samuel Adam’s Utopia. “They just released it last week and I snagged a couple bottles for us to try. It’s only released every other year and it’s supposedly banned in 13 states.”

“Well shit.” He said as he took the small bottle from you to look at the label. “Was it expensive?”

“Hundred and fifty bucks a piece.” You said with a shrug. “Could have been a lot more. I once spent over seven grand on a bottle of vodka. Still have it in the fridge of my bar if you wanna try it.”

“You are insane, little girl.” He chuckled as he set the bottle down on the table to grab some glasses and dinner.

“Tell me something I don’t know.” The two of you finished setting everything up before taking a seat at the table. “So how’d I do?”

“Well let me see.” He said as he picked up his silverware as you used your chopsticks to pick up a piece of the SoHo roll. He moaned and nodded his head as you dipped your roll in spicy mayo and some ginger sauce before taking a bite of it. “Perfect.”

“Really?” You asked around your mouthful as you set down your chopsticks so you could cut your steak.

“Perfect.” He repeated as he opened the bottle of beer, and poured you both a glass. “Alright, now which one of these am I trying first?” You hummed at his question, moaned at the amazing taste of the steak, and pointed at a piece of California roll- one of two you had brought specifically for him to try.

“It’s just crab meat, avocado, and cucumber.” You said as you pointed to the sauces. “And then you can dip it in soy sauce, or spicy mayo. Or put a little wasabi on it.”

“Which is the best for this one?”

“It’s personal preference.” You said as you pointed at the mayo and the ginger you had dipped your roll in. “These two are mine. And the sakura sauce. That one’s also called white sauce or yum-yum sauce.”

“Alright we’re going with the yum-yum sauce.” He said as he dipped the roll.

“Just put the whole thing in your mouth.” You told him as you cut up another piece of steak. “Just one big bite.” You made a weird biting noise as he ate the sushi and you tried not to laugh at the slight face he tried to hide. “You don’t like it.”

“It’s really weird.” He said as he looked over at you.

“You can spit it out.”

“No, it’s OK.” He huffed as he swallowed the piece bravely. He coughed and shook his head a bit as you hid your smirk behind your hand.

“You don’t have to like it.”

“It’s not terrible.” He said with a shrug as he picked up his beer. “But I don’t think I’d go out of my way to order it.”

“OK, one more and then you’re all done with the sushi, I promise.” You said as you pointed to the last one. “Spicy Tuna and do the ginger sauce…”

“Holy fuck… this I would order again.” He said as he held up his glass. “Try it.”

“We’re just all over the place with trying new things.” You giggled as you set your piece of a Dragon roll down on your plate so you could try your beer. “I’m cooking, you’re eating sushi, we’re trying new beer. Here’s too a trying new things.” You said as you held your glass toward him.

“To trying new things with new people.” You nodded as he tapped his glass against yours before you both took a sip.

“Oh shit, that is good.” You agreed before you took another sip and set your glass down. “Damn, I did a good job.”

“Yea, you did, sweetheart.” John laughed as he cut up some more steak. “I’m proud of you.”


	3. Chapter 3

You didn’t know why you were nervous about inviting John over to your house, but you were actually pacing your foyer as you waited. You knew doing this was going to open a whole can of worms with your personal life, but you had been with him almost a month and it was about time you ripped off that bandaid. You actually jumped when he finally rang the doorbell, and you scooped up Gizmo when he started barking, protectively.

“You’re here.” You said with a smile as you opened the door. “Come in.”

“This isn’t your house.” He said with a shake of his head.

“It is. It’s a little unnecessarily huge because it’s just me and Jen but I can’t part with it. Want the tour?”

“Absolutely. Gotta see how the other half live.” You shot him a look and locked the front door before leading him through the second door on the far side of the foyer.

“Alright, so this is the kitchen. I was too nervous to make dinner and Jen has our chef here for her dinner anyways, so I just asked him to make something for us. This is Jeff. He’s a student at the culinary school down in Tribeca. Every semester, we hire someone new who wants to be a personal chef during their last year. They can get a little official practice, and get credit for an internship, and we pay them for their time. So it’s a win-win all over the place.”

“Well that’s nice of you.” He said with a nod at your chef.

“So this is the kitchen. The fridge is usually always stocked with munchies, beer, juice, waters… Pantry over there is the same. If Jeff’s not here, Jen and I live off take out or shit we can just throw in the microwave. Such bad eating habits. So we tend to keep him busy. Lots of practice.”

“I love that they let me cook through my collection of cook books.” Jeff said with a glance up at you. “And they are much more laid back than other people that hire guys like me. I’ve heard horror stories.”

“Don’t let him lie to you.” You teased as you adjusted your hold on your dog. “We’re horrible, mean, vicious bosses.”

“Oh, yea I totally see it.” John laughed as you waved good bye to Jeff so he could get back to work.

“So then on the back of the ground floor, we have our formal dining room. We never use this room unless out family from California is in town.”

“Wait… your last name’s Folger?” John asked as he stopped in front of the family tree you had handing on your wall.

“Technically, yes. That’s our family tree.” You said as you stepped over to his side. “So our family story is complicated. Do you remember the Sharon Tate murders?” He nodded his head as you reached up to tap on your grandmothers photo. “My grandma, Abigail Folger, was one of the people in the Tate house. The stories you heard are not completely true. She wasn’t just a lover, she was… well she was actually a sugar mama. So anyways, Grandma Gibby… that’s what we always knew her as, her story is simple before then. She was born in San Fransisco, went to Radcliffe, debuted at the Saint Frances hotel in San Fran. Did a little self discovery in New York were she met my mother’s father, Wojciech Frykowski. Imagine teaching that last name to kids, right? So a few months go by, they move back to California. 

Now here’s where things differ from what you’ll find on the internet. It was supposedly a going away party for Sharon, which isn’t the complete truth. It was also a celebratory party for my grand parents who had given birth to my mother secretly. The internet claims she was depressed but thats because my great-grandparents weren’t all that happy about them having a baby out of wedlock. And the internet is nasty, too. They called her a drug addict, they said my grandparents were fighting all the time. But she was living in the Tate house when the Manson followers came in and killed her, that part is true. She almost got away, too but was stabbed like 30 times.”

“Jesus, sweetheart.”

“Oh, I’m not done.” You huffed as you put Gizmo down and reached up to tap on your mother’s photo. “So mom was quickly shipped to New York to my grandfather’s parents just in case the attack was personal. They raised her as their own but she always knew the truth. My great grandparents stayed in touch until the day they died. And boy were they in for a wild ride with my mama. She was a wild child thanks to my other great grandparents. She ended up getting pregnant at eighteen, got shipped back to California and had twins. Now!” You said when John chuckled. “Wait, still not done. So this guy is my dad, he went back to Cali with my mom to be responsible. This man… shit, he was the greatest father to Jen and I. He was the one that was there when we were born, he heard out first words, saw our first steps. He taught us how to ride a bike, and how to swim, and how to play pool like a boss. He was our Daddy. But, as it turns out, he is not our biological father… and we didn’t know until we were almost eighteen year old.”

“Oh, holy shit.”

“Yea.” You agreed with a nod. “So it turns out, my mom cheated on him with a teacher her senior year of high school. My dad knew about it the whole time, too. They just figured it’d never come up. But he needed a kidney transplant when we were seventeen so my sister and I both immediately volunteered. They tested me since we’re twins and I won the rock, paper, scissors. But when the test results came back that we weren’t a match, the intern that came in to tell us got confused about which chart was getting read where. So he told us that our dad was not our father, and told the super confused man trying to figure out if his six month old daughter was his or not found out she was not a match for his kidney.”

“Jesus.”

“So Jen and I decided to find our real father. We moved to New York, pooled the first part of our trust fund from the Folger company, the money from my great grandmother… her family did land grants… whatever that is, and the money we got from my grand father’s family. We were their only heirs, so we got their textile business when they passed, and we got the money from the move my granddad made. With all the interest it accrued in our bank accounts in our life time, it totaled nearly a 300 million each at that age. So we bought a small town home, found our birth father on his death bed from cancer, and for some stupid reason, he signed his small fortune to the two complete strangers that popped up on his door step one day. And we were so mad at my mom and dad, that we just stayed here after that. Then our full trust funds kicked in at 21, and we became the youngest billionaires in the world.”

“That is insane.” He said with a shake of his head as he looked back up at your family tree. He sighed and pointed to an empty spot attached with a line beside your name. “I’m almost afraid to ask.”

Are you excited?

“Come with me.” You said, sadly as you stepped around him to head up to the second floor where your personal library was. You bit your lip as you climbed up the spiral staircase to keep yourself from crying and simply gestured to the room on your left when you hit the top. “That’s our living room. It’s our gathering spot when we have friends over if we’re not upstairs in the pool or on the roof. And this is my personal library.” You walked in to your favorite room in the house and walked over to grab your wedding photo off the mantel. “His name was James Ross and in one week he gave me two different new titles. Wife… and widow.”

“Fuck… sweetheart…”

“It’s OK.” You said as you looked up from the photo and handed it to him. “I’m OK.” You looked back up at the rest of the photos on the mantel on either side of his folded flag with a fond smile and huffed. “Are you excited. First words he ever said to me. I had bought out the theater for the first Avengers movie but he managed to sneak a seat in in the middle of me buying out the theater. I just prefer to watch movies like that and not have anyone spoiling parts for me when they’re talking to their friends or talking behind me through the whole thing, asking stupid fucking questions. So I go alone. I’m that much of a nerd. So I was shocked to walk into the theater and see him there. He was all the way up front and I felt bad so I told him he could sit where ever. And he chose right next to me. He asked if I was excited, and I tried so damn hard to ignore him. But he just went on a tangent about how Iron Man was better than Captain America and I just… I just had to put him in his place. Such a jerk.” You grabbed the frame of the photo booth pictures from that night to show John with a smile. 

“I was addicted. He was sweet, and funny, and nerdy, just like me. You would have liked him. He was ex-army who came home and bought a freaking vineyard on the Long Island. Duck Walk Vineyards. You know, to this day, I don’t know if I always hated wine or I just started hating it after I lost him. Here…” You grabbed another photo of the pair of you at the vineyard goofing off in a barrel of grapes like the ‘I Love Lucy’ episode to show him. “Such fucking goofballs. When Duck Walk did so well, he ended up buying a vineyard slash winery in Napa, then one in France, and I said fuck it, and bought one in Tuscany. So we had the four vineyards and three wineries. And holy fuck that’s a lot of fucking grapes. But we just traveled between them. And we were so happy. He proposed to me in Napa.” You grabbed the second to last photo of the engagement with a sigh as your tears finally welled in your eyes.

“We figured the two year relationship was long enough so we were married in less than six months in New Zealand where we bought vineyard number five. And that was going to be the jump off of our honeymoon…” You looked up at the last photo, the very last photo ever taken of your late husband as your tears finally started to fall. “He was just gone. We were on the beach and he ran into the water to cool off. I looked down to open a bottle of water. It was just a second. And he was just gone in this… horrible cloud of red…”

“Alright, OK.” John said finally as he put the photo down and quickly pulled you into his arms. You completely broke down, still feeling the loss three years later as if it had just happened, but John held you together. He now understood why you had chose to stay silent the night he told you all about his and Mary’s rocky relationship.

“She told you about James, didn’t she?” Jen whispered softly from the doorway over your hyperventilating on her way downstairs for dinner. When your boyfriend nodded, she pointed upstairs. “Her room is one floor up. She’s never really cried like that before over him. I’ll bring dinner up when I’m done.” With another nod, he carefully picked you up and carried you upstairs and after a brief moment of confusion of which way to go, he headed to the right to your room and laid you down on the bed. 

“I’m sorry…”

“Don’t be.” He said with a shake of his head as he helped Gizmo up on the bed, and took off his boots to lay down with you. “You lasted an entire month without crying in front of me. And that’s something everyone knows you have to knock off the list. And this is something absolutely worth crying over. So you go right on ahead.” You nodded your head as he pushed the blankets down and got you both under them. He pulled you into his arms with a heavy sigh, wishing there was something he could say in this situation to help, but knowing that there was nothing anyone could say. So instead, he simply laid there with you, holding the broken pieces together for you.

——

Once you had cried yourself out, you realized that John had fallen asleep after a long day at work. With a grateful smile that he was in your life, you carefully got up to let him sleep a little longer, and went down stairs to check on dinner.

“You feeling better?” Jen asked as you stepped out of the elevator.

“Is that the first time I’ve talked about him?”

“Since it happened, yea.” She said with a nod as she gestured to her bowl. “Sausage risotto and fresh bread from that bakery down the block.”

“Solid. Did you pay him?”

“Was I supposed to?” You looked over at her smirk in annoyance and she caved. “Yes, I paid him. I actually paid him yesterday because his tuition payment and rent were due today so he asked for it a day early. I went to the bank and pulled cash for him and wrote it in the house checkbook.”

“Thank you very much.” You said as you peeked under the covered bowls and grabbed a piece of sausage with your fingers. “Thank you.”

“For him?” She asked as she pointed above her with her utensil. “My pleasure. There’s cake in the fridge again.”

“Fuck yes.” You hissed happily. “God, I love that kid. I’ll be sad to see him go.”

“He’s a good one.” She agreed. “I’d actually consider hiring this one full time.”

“We do have that extra bedroom downstairs. And we could bring him to the vineyards with us when we go so he could pick up more tricks. Fuck it, let’s change the kid’s life. Call him up, tell him to come in tomorrow for a lunch thing I forgot about. I’ll call Maxwell to have a contract drawn up for Monday and he can start when school ends.” She nodded her head as you stuck the silverware and some paper towels in your bra and grabbed both covered plates to head back upstairs. “We’re going for a swim then watching something down stairs…”

“I’m going out with Chandra!” She called after you as you stepped into the elevator and hit your floor with your elbow. You nodded your head to yourself as the elevator took you up to your room. Once it opened, you carried the food over to the sitting room, which is where you and Jen could always be found on rainy or heavy snow days with your coffees because it overlooked Central Park. You shooed Milo out of his favorite chair, much to his disliking, and scared Mouse by just existing on your way back into your room. You quietly laid back down in bed and reached up to brush your fingertip down his nose.

“Hey sleepy head.” You whispered softly as you dragged your finger down his nose again. “You’re missing out on dinner.”

“Woman…” He grunted as he reached up to wrap his fingers around your wrist. “I’m tired.”

“We have risotto.” You cooed as you twisted your hand in his to lace your fingers with his. “And we have cake. And it’s date night.”

“Then why’d you let me fall asleep?” With a groan, he rolled on to his back and pulled you with him. He buried his face in your throat, wrapped his arms around your body, and held your hips with his thighs. You tilted your head to the side and kissed his cheek as he took a deep breath and blew it across your chest.

“Food’s getting cold.” You told him as you ran your fingers through his hair. With one more long groan, he let you go and let his arms flop down on the bed.

“Alright… I’m up.” With a smile, you gave him a chaste kiss and got up for dinner.

“This house was the house James bought for us to raise our family.” You said as you led him into the sitting room. “Which is why my bedroom is the master but it’s technically smaller than Jen’s. We changed the whole fourth floor and turned it into a master suite but left it where we’d just have to put up some walls if we did ever sell. It’s funny, right now, her closet has a bathroom. I had already moved stuff in here before we were married and I was just lost after that I just stayed here. It’s way to big for the two of us… Jen and I. But I haven’t been able to put it up for sale yet. I sold the vineyard in New Zealand and haven’t been back sense. And not Jen and I are co-owners of the four I have left.”

“Sweetheart, you don’t have to keep telling me…” He tried as you grabbed two beers from the small bar you kept stocked in that room for your rainy days.

“I’m almost done.” You said as you popped the tops to the bottles and brought them over to the little table. “No more sad stuff, I promise.” He nodded his head slowly as you took a bite of your dinner and sighed. “I know money isn’t the best subject to talk about but it’s one conversation you and I need to have. Especially since we’re getting more serious. I have lots of money. Like more money than should be allowed for someone to actually have. And with the vineyards, and the money I get from James’ military survivor benefits, it just keeps coming in. I donate millions a year to different charities, but I also spend it. Like spending seven grand on a bottle of vodka, or spending like two grand on Girl Scout cookies just to donate them to a soup kitchen. I do a lot of stuff for vets because of my late husband. I donate money to private schools so that there is money for scholarships to families that can’t afford it, I travel a lot… not as much as I used to, but I still travel. 

But the money keeps coming in. And I keep spending it. It’s not a charity thing, I don’t do it because I feel sorry for people. I do it because I have hundreds of millions of dollars that are just sitting there. And the reason I’m telling you this is because we’re getting to the next part of our relationship… where we start to talk about me meeting your kids. I know we’re a few months out from it actually happening… but the thing is, I can’t help but spend money. It has to be shared. That’s the California rich in me. Over there, we don’t hide our money. We flaunt that shit like a redneck having a fight with her husband in the front yard. Here, it’s all hidden, and hush hush. Which is stupid if you ask me. What’s the purpose of having an ungodly amount of money if you’re not sharing it. And I already want to share my wealth with you.

I want to take you to my vineyards and show you the gorgeous country. I want to spend a week in Fiji just because we can. I want to buy you new fucking jeans because yours are permanently dirty and it bugs the living crap outta me and new boots because yours are starting to fall apart at the heel. But I don’t want to offend you in doing so. I don’t want to cause problems down the line if, when the new Avengers movie comes out, I buy out the theater again like I always do for you, and me and your sons if we’re at that point in our relationship. I’m not trying to buy their love, I’m not trying to buy yours. I just want to give other people experiences that they will carry with them. I want to share the practice of selfless generosity.” When you finished, John simply nodded his head slowly and sat back in his chair. You took that as him needing a minute to process so you took a few bite of your dinner and tried not to fidget in your spot.

“Man, you really know how to swing a bat, sweetheart.” He said after a few minutes as he grabbed his beer. He took a long swig and looked over at you with a small sigh. “I don’t want you for your money. You know that as well as I do. And I appreciate everything you said. But I need you to understand something from my point of view as well. We are in different economic classes. I’m not an idiot to think there’s an even playing field but I’m also not an idiot enough to walk away from someone I care deeply about because of that. But you gotta understand I can’t be a rich guy. If I bring you a dozen roses for Valentines day, it’s not because I don’t care enough to get something bigger, but because that’s what my budget is. I need you to understand that if I want to surprise you with a weekend trip to Vegas, we’re not gunna be in first class, we’ll be in coach. We won’t be in five star hotels, we’ll be in three stars that are more in my price range. And I know those are shit examples but they’re just the first ones I could think of.”

“Perfect examples.” You said between bites as he ate the last bite of his dinner.

“I can’t give you this life, sweetheart. It’s not me. And if we’re talking long term, we’re going to have to do a lot of compromising. Because I own a company. A working man’s company and I just can’t leave for spur of the moment trips. I also have kids who, no matter what, are my first priority. And while I appreciate you wanting to share your wealth with them and I’m in no way telling you not to… but as their father, I need them to understand working as well. Because… and please don’t take offense to this… but we’re not going to have money just fall into our laps.”

“Oh, no. I know.” You said with a nod as you set your fork in your empty bowl and grabbed your beer. “You’re not offending me at all, I promise.”

“OK.” He sighed as you curled up on your chair. “I just need you to appreciate the things I do as well for what they are to me, OK? If I’m trying to compete with this… five story, swimming pool in my house, fifty thousand dollar dress, seven grand vodka, kinda life, I’ll resent you for it. And I don’t want to resent you. I want to be with you because you make me smile. And you make me laugh. And you make me feel things that I haven’t felt in a long, long time. So our first compromise.” He sat forward and tilted his beer toward you. “I can accept that you will probably buy me way more jeans and clothes than I could ever need… if you can accept that a dozen roses is the most you’re gunna be getting from me for Valentines Day in two weeks.” You smiled and nodded your head as you tapped your bottle against his.

“I can accept that.” You agreed, and with a nod, you both took a sip of your drink to seal the verbal agreement. “Alright, I wanna go swim before we do cake. It’s been a heavy day and I just wanna relax with my man.”

“I’ll be completely OK if you forget your bathing suit in your room.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey… hi Bones… hey, how fast could you get work and the boys all situated to go with me to France for a couple days for a work thing? It’s like three days- a long weekend trip but mid-week.” John looked over at you from the stove as you put Gizmo down to say hi to his best friend, and took off your boots.

“God, that’s such a weird phrase to hear.” He chuckled as you stopped to add another log to the fire like he had taught you when you first started staying over at his house.

“Well here’s the thing.” You continued as you pushed Gizmo back so he wouldn’t get hurt and unbuttoned your Burberry wool coat to take it off when you were done. “Jen has apparently been looking at buying a second vineyard in France that she loves the wine from. And since that’s something that we do as sisters, I have to go and work out the details. On top of that, the vineyard I already own is launching a new wine and we have to be there for that, too. So total, I’ll be gone for a week… week and a half give or take. So, I wanna know if I leave like tomorrow afternoon, take care of the buying thing this weekend, then fly back on say Monday to get you and bring you to back with me…”

“That is a whole lotta flying…” He commented as he bent down to give you a kiss on your way to your ‘spot’ sitting on his kitchen counter while he cooked.

“I own a jet.” You said with a swipe of your hand. “I don’t mind the flying because I know you can’t really take a week off work…”

“I could. I actually hired a service manager after we had our little talk. But I can’t leave tomorrow afternoon because I have to boys tomorrow night. I could leave the next day after I take them to school. But I also don’t have a passport…”

“That we can take care of tomorrow with my guy. I’ll just cover the fees for now, and we can work it out down the line. The problem is, you need new dress pants if you don’t have them. I know you have button downs. But your jeans aren’t gunna work.”

“You have just been dying to take me shopping…” He laughed as he set his spoon down to come over and stand between your legs.

“I really have.” You laughed as you cupped his face in your palms. “Hi baby.”

“Hi, sweetheart.” You pulled him forward for a kiss before pulling away to look at him with a hopeful smile. “You don’t even have to go with me. I like shopping.”

“Jesus.” He huffed with a nod of his head. “Alright, go shopping.” You hissed ‘yes’ as he pat you hip and went back to cooking. “Not too much, you hear me. And from Macy’s. That’s my compromise.”

“I know.” You said with a nod as you grabbed your phone from your bag to make an appointment for the next day to get his passport, and to get an itinerary for the trip. “Oh, my guy can get us in for an 8 am appointment. That OK to get your passport?”

“That’s fine if you breathe for me.”

“I’m calm.” You said as you started to subconsciously swing your feet in excitement. You were too concerned with trying to figure this out that you nearly kicked your boyfriend when he moved to get the table sent.

“(Y/N). Stop swinging, or you’ll have to put the phone down.” You looked up at him innocently as he grabbed your ankles and pushed them down against the counter. “I’m going with you. Calm down. It’s fine. You’re gunna get it all worked out. Stop swinging.”

“OK.” You said with a nod. “I’m gunna need your printer after dinner.”  
“Fine. Help me set the table, please.” You nodded your head and put your phone down to take the silverware from him.

——

“I didn’t know you spoke French.” John said as you rode in the back of a limo to the airport for your flight. You smiled and looked over at him from your phone with a nod.

“Polish, French, Italian, Latin, Mandarin, and Spanish.”

“And you are fluent in sign language.” Jen chimed in without looking up from her phone. “Only Polish, Spanish, and French for me.”

“We went to a private boarding school in Texas.”

“Damn.” John said with a small shake of his head. “You learned all that in school?”

“Well… sort of. The sign language was an after school program, and the Italian I learned from my roommate, who’s grandparents were Italian so she spoke that and English fluently.”

“She was the over achiever of the two of us. Graduated valedictorian with honors.” Jen chimed in as she finally looked up from her phone. “Such a fucking nerd. She took every extra class she could and…”

“Shut up.” You groaned as you covered your face.

“… she even got books from the library to learn stuff the school didn’t even teach.”

“Shut up.” You repeated a little louder, knowing she wasn’t done. “I will hit you.”

“I’m almost positive she took every class the school offered because she was that much of a nerd. She was all but hopeless.” You growled as you took off your heel and whipped it at her; still a little sensitive about all the teasing you had dealt with in high school.

“Hey, OK be nice.” John said as he deflected your heel when Jen whipped it back at you. “Enough, you two. Enough.”

“Bitch.” You muttered as you put your heel back on and fixed your dress since it was finally warming up outside. She looked back down at her phone with a giant smirk and John realized in that moment why the pair of you didn’t really spend a lot of time together the way he expected twin sister to do.

“Sam’s a book worm like you.” He said softly as he put his arm around your shoulders protectively. “I get to the point with him where I have to go in after I put him to bed and I have to confiscate his emergency ‘in case the power goes out’ flashlight so he’ll stop reading. Dean takes after me. Manual labor. I have a ’67 Impala that I’ve been slowly fixing up with him. I bet he’ll be a mechanic when he grows up.”

“Is that what’s under the tarp out back?” You asked as Jen rolled her eyes behind you. “How close to done are you?”

“Not.” He chuckled with a shake of his head. “I’ve been trying to find parts in working condition and for decent prices. That’s a lot harder with older cars.”

“Well… I have a car guy. Maybe I can have him put a few feelers out for the parts. He’ll probably cut you a decent deal, too, so that you can teach faster. Get him prepared for the real world faster.”

“I would actually appreciate that.” He said with a nod as he rubbed your arm.

“I really liked learning.” You said softly when you were sure Jen was too focused on her social media to pay attention. “And there was just so much to learn…”

“There’s nothing wrong with that, baby.” He said sweetly. “I think it’s very commendable. And I may have to hire you to help out with Sam’s studying. He’s going into middle school next year, and he’s in some AP classes… and I’m not a super genius…”

“I can help.” You said with a nod as you looked up at him. “I’d be honored.”

“Get a room.” Jen said as she tossed her phone in her purse as you pulled up to the private airport. With a heavy sigh, you pulled away from John and picked up Gizmo from the chair beside you.

“Alright, France. Here we come.” When you all got out of the car, Jen bee-lined past you with a slightly hard shoulder check while you waited patiently for John to help with the bags because you knew telling him he didn’t need to wouldn’t stop him from doing so. When all six extra large Louis Vuitton bags and the medium sized Louis that he borrowed from you were unloaded, you gently reached out and pulled on his arm. “They’ve got to load them from here. And we have to go claim the bed before Jen does.”

“There’s a bed?” He asked as you laced your arm with his and headed over to your Bombardiar Global 7500.

“Of course.” You said with a nod. “James bought this because he was traveling so often, and he hated TSA. So I convinced him to get me one with a bed. And I won that fight pretty easily.”

“I’m sure you won a lot of fights, sweetheart.” He chuckled as he followed you up the stairs.

“I’m quite persuasive, aren’t I?” You teased with a glance over your shoulder as you ducked into the plane. 

“Oh, don’t I know it.”


	4. Chapter 4

“Jen, this is a fucking money pit.” You said under your breath in Spanish as the pair of you say going over the books of the winery in France she had been looking in to right in front of the family that wanted to sell. “There is nothing redeemable with this…”

“I don’t know…” She responded just as softly. “Maybe it can be salvaged?”

“Sissy, there is nothing salvageable about this.” You said as you let John pull the papers out of your hands so he could look at them. “This is a bailout. They’re going under.”

“OK, so what if we bail them out and revamp?” She asked with a look over at you, not understanding in the slightest the business aspect of owning a winery the way you did.

“Jen, in order to revamp this sort of deficit, we’d have to spend months, and millions to literally start over. If you look at the maintenance logs, most of this stuff hasn’t been updated, or maintained in years. We’d have to buy new equipment, hire a whole new staff. We’d lose so much more than we’d make. This…”

“Are you talking about the books?” John asked carefully as he looked over at you. “I don’t know the conversion, but this isn’t good.”

“I know.” You said with a nod as you ran your fingers through your hair. “Nothing about this is great other than the fact that they make decent wine and that their crops, while small, are in partially decent condition if we can get the equipment together to get them in shape before the summer heat hits. This is a bail out.” You sighed and looked over at him with a small shake of your head, truthfully not knowing what to do. It made sense to you at that moment why your sister was so desperate for you to come on this trip. “Damn it.” With a sigh, you looked over at the family and gave them a tight lipped smile. “Let me make a couple calls, OK?” The father, who had to have been in his late sixties nodded his head hopefully as you collected all the paperwork on the old wood table, and Gizmo’s carrier while you got up.

“Are we leaving?!” Jen asked, hurriedly as she jumped to her feet beside you.

“No, we’re making a few calls.” You repeated on your way out the door. “Jen, I don’t think you truly understand the kinda money thats gunna need to go into this…”

“Please…” She begged as you stopped at your rental SUV and opened up the trunk to work out of for a moment. “Please do this for me.” 

“I’m gunna try.” You said as you unzipped the carrier and set it down in the back so Gizmo could walk around and stretch his little legs. You glanced over at John as he handed you the papers he had in his hand and shrugged. “You want in on this? It’s not gunna show much profit for a while but it’ll give you some money for that Impala of yours.”

“What?” He asked as he took a step back away from you. “I can’t…”

“You’re gunna cut him in?” Jen asked a little harshly.

“I would consider it.” You said in French as you looked over at her with a slight glare. “Because he needs the money more than you and I do and he understands what goes in to running a business where as you don’t. Do you have some problem with that that I’m missing, little sister?” Her glare intensified but she didn’t say a word because she knew you were right. You turned back to John as you took a deep breath and grabbed your cell phone. “I’ll cut you into my part and we can figure out the money for it later. And even if you and I don’t last, you’d still be a part of this winery and you can pass it along to your sons. Like I said, it’s not gunna make much while we bail this fucker out of the extreme debt its in but it’ll be something. Couple hundred thousand a year. But it’s up to you. I’m just trying to help.” He opened his mouth to respond but couldn’t come up with anything more than simply nodding his head. You reached out to squeeze his arm while you unlocked your cellphone. “Alright, Jen, call Marco and get him down here. Let’s figure out how bad you’re gunna kill me with this.”

——

“Baby…” John said as he sat on the foot of the bed watching you get ready for bed.

“What sweetheart?” You asked as you ran your brush through your hair a couple more times.

“I can’t ask you to do this.”

“Do what?” You asked as you set the brush down and looked at your reflection to make sure you got all your make up off.

“I can’t ask you to cut me in to your business.” You paused for a moment and walked out of the bathroom to look at him. “I can’t…”

“Hey, hey.” You said softly as you walked over and kneeled down in front of him. You cupped his jaw in your hands and shook your head. “You didn’t ask. I offered. But you absolutely do not have to do it. I won’t be offended, and Jen won’t care one way or another… but it’s not like she has a say because at the end of the day, I’m the primary owner of this wine business by a whole ten precent. So if I want to cut you in to one of five vineyards we’re gunna own, I can. Shit, if I want to sell you a twenty percent share for a nickel, I can. But I offered strictly to help pay for that car of yours. That’s all I had in mind. Because I know you’d give the world to your children. And I know you well enough to know that doing right by them is all you want out of life. And this… owning a share of a company like this is such a power move especially if you can get in for next to nothing. But if you aren’t comfortable with it, you don’t have to do it. If it’s gunna affect your child support or your alimony, then don’t do it. It’s just an idea.”

“Babe…” He said with a slight shake of his head. “You have no fucking idea what this would do for me.”

“No… I don’t.” You agreed. He choked a little bit as he reached down and picked you up off the floor to straddle his lap so he could just hold you. With a small smile, you kissed the top of his head and ran your fingers through his hair as a single tear fell on your chest.

“I don’t deserve you.” He whispered again your skin. Your smile grew as you pulled back a bit to look at him. 

“That’s where you’re wrong, John. You deserve so much more than you could even imagine.”

“I love you.” He whispered as he searched your blue eyes. “You are so kind and you have such a beautiful soul. In the last four months, you have brought light back into my life that I thought I’d never get back. You brought back fun, and adventure. You’ve broken me out of my shell more in the last four months than I ever had been before. I want to be around you all the time just to feel the unconditional love that you radiate when you don’t even realize it. I need it. Because you make me feel safe. You make me feel loved. I love you.”

“Baby…” You whispered as tears fell softly from your eyes. “I love you, too.” His smile threatened to break his cheeks as he tightened his arms to pull you closer to capture your lips. “Don’t let me go…” You whispered against his lips when you pulled away for air.

“Never.” He said with a shake of his head. “I promise.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Right here.” You said as you grabbed the strap of your bag and the handle of the town car door. “Thank you.” You barely waited for the car to completely stop before you jumped out. “I’m sorry!” You called out as you walked quickly toward John and his sons. “Jen has been freaking out all morning, and then when I tried to leave Giz with Jeff, he started to freak out, and kept spitting out his doggy Xanax so I had to find his service dog vest.” You took a deep breath and shook your head as you stopped in front of your boyfriend. “It’s been a fun morning. Hi.”

“You’re fine.” He chuckled as he gave you a hug and a very chaste kiss. “(Y/N), I’d like to introduce you to my sons, Dean and Sam.” You smiled broadly and turned toward the two boys that you were so excited to meet.

“Dean…” You repeated as you shook the older boy’s hand. “And Sam. It is so nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard so much about you. You excited for the game? I think I snagged us some pretty good seats.”

“Where are we sitting?” Dean asked as he tried to subtly check out your DD’s in your low cut, cold shoulder, Yankee logo printed, blue, long sleeve shirt without his father seeing.

“Front row. Section 17B, right next to the Yankee’s dugout on the first base line.” You could see the cocky teenager trying not to show much interest because he was at that age, but you could also see just by the slight glimmer in his green eyes that he was excited.

“What kind of dog is that?” Sam asked as he pointed to the bag under your arm.

“He is an Italian Greyhound.” You said as you unzipped the top a bit so your excited puppy could poke his head out. “His name is Gizmo.”

“Looks like Skeletor.” Dean said under his breath as you all walked toward the private entrance for the Legends Suites. John barked his name as you reached out to squeeze his hand to let him know it was OK.

“He does.” You agreed with a nod as you pulled your phone from one of the pockets of your special New York Yankees carrier for the tickets. “And he looked even worse when I saved his life and rescued him. He’s just not a big eater. I almost named him that but I thought Gizmo was a little more civilized.” You smiled at the teen as you stepped forward and held out your phone so your tickets could get scanned, while Sam laughed silently behind his dad. “Look, you don’t know me and therefore, you don’t like me. I’m OK with that. I’ve got thick skin and so does my dog. Hate all you want. I’m just here to watch a baseball game. I leave you getting to know me in your court, alright?” Trying to keep up his indifferent facade, Dean scoffed and shrugged as he walked into the stadium. Before he could go after him, you grabbed John’s hand and pulled him a half step back toward you. “Don’t yell at him.” You whispered as you looked up at the man you loved. “It’ll only push him away. Give him time. He’s a teenager and I’m the woman that could be taking his father's attention in his eyes. Let him be standoffish. I don’t mind one bit.”

“He should know better.” He grumbled as you held out your wrist for your wristband and showed a manager the paperwork for your service dog, even though you legally didn’t have to.

“Yea, but cut him some slack. It won’t last forever. There is a method to my madness of picking a Yankee’s game as the place to meet them. Alright, do you two wanna eat first, or watch a few minutes of batting practice?”

“Whatever.” Dean said with a shrug as he looked at the wall of signed baseballs to his right.

“Can we see the field?” Sam asked as he looked over at you.

“Absolutely. That’s why we’re here so early.” You agreed with a nod. “This way.” You lead the boys down stairs through two different restaurants, past an actual wall of snacks, and out into the massive stadium. You said hello to your usher, who happily walked you all the way down to the first row and gestured you in to the first four seats; the farthest of which was literally right against the dugout. The two boys went in first, followed by their dad and you, and just as you were about to sit down, some called your name from the field.

“Well look at you gracing us with your presence again.” Derek Jeter laughed as he jogged over to give you a hug over the wall. “I heard about James… I’m so sorry, hun. It’s so strange not to see you two around anymore.”

“Thank you.” You said as you pulled back to look at him with a small smile. “I figured I’d been away from my boys long enough. Derek, this is my boyfriend, John Winchester, and his sons, Sam, and Dean.”

“How you boys doing today?” He asked as he shook all three of their hands while you waved at Alex Rodriguez as he warmed up across the field. “This your first game?”

“Not mine.” John said as you sat down on the edge of your seat and rested Gizmo’s bag on your lap. “But it is for the boys.”

“Well, I hope we win for you guys then.” Derek said as he stood on his tip toes to say hi to your dog, who had his head out of the top opening so he could look around. “Hi Giz. What’re you doing, pup?”

“You getting back to work or what?” You laughed as you got up again to give Brett Gardner a quick kiss on the cheek. “You too, slacker. I’m not here.”

“You’re just here to cause trouble, (Y/N).” Brett laughed. “Sorry about James. Is my girl here, too?”

“Yea right.” You giggled as you looked at Derek. “She was ready to strangle me just for coming. It’s just me and my boyfriend and his kids. So you better put on a good show for us, you hear?”

“Oh, you know it, sweetheart.” He said as he, too, scratched Gizmo’s head.

“Hey, I’m innocent in this whole thing.” Derek laughed as his GM, Brian, yelled his name, angrily, but still smiled and waved at you. “Oh, real fast. Planning a silent auction for the foundation. Can I count you in?”

“I’m in.” You said with a nod. “I’ll call Hannah on Monday.”

“Sounds like a plan. Have fun, guys.” You sat back and waved as the John looked over at you in disbelief.

“You know the Yankees… personally.”

“Well… technically, yes. But Jen’s the one that knows them personally. And quite a few of them at that. Which is why she’s mad at me.”

“Is that how you got such good seats?” He asked.

“No.” You said with a shake of your head. “These are James’ dad’s company seats. He usually gives them to friends or celebrities or sells them on stub hub but he said I could have them whenever I want. He doesn’t come to the games as much anymore. It’s… it’s just not the same without James.” John nodded as you took a deep breath and smiled. “Alright. I’m hungry. What about you guys?”

——

“So much food.” Dean said as he worked his fifth plate, which was stacked with small, personal apple pies in the Legends Suites included buffet restaurant. “So good.”

“You know, not only can you bring those back to your seat. But you can order them from there as well.” You said as you watched him and Sam eat more than you though was physically possible.

“Dean, did you see the candy cups?!” Sam asked as he came over with three plastic cups in the shape of Yankee’s baseball caps full of candy. “The lady said I could take as many as I wanted.”

“Don’t eat yourselves sick, boys.” John said as he slowly worked on his third plate and tried to sneakily feed Gizmo scraps when he thought you weren’t looking. “You still have a whole baseball game to sit through.”

“Yea, and a wall of candy bars, cotton candy, popcorn, peanuts, pretzels… You gotta save room for it all.”

“How do you do this all the time, and look that good?” Dean asked around a mouthful. “I’d put on like a hundred pounds.”

“Dean!”

“I pace myself.” You laughed. “And the newness of it wore off long ago.”

“Can you take the candy home?” Sam asked as he popped a couple Sour Patch Kids into his mouth.

“Technically, you’re not supposed to.” You said as you leaned over, and grabbed a couple of the stamped supplied bags to carry your treats out to your seats and a few sandwich baggies to separate the loose stuff from the pocket of your carrier. “But there’s no real rule against it, so I think for some first timers, we can make some exceptions.”

“Babe, really?” John said as you handed the boys a bag each.

“Yes, really.” You giggled as Dean shoved his bags in his pocket for later, while Sam poured his three baseball caps into one of his bags. “Now, before we go grab our seats, you three are severely underdressed. And since we’re sitting in the front row near the dugout, we have to fix that or else people will think you’re rooting for the other team.” The boys scrambled to finish or pack up their plates as you ate your last brownie bite, and stood up.

“I thought I said no to shirts.” John said under his breath as he put the strap of Gizmo’s bag on his shoulder.

“And I thought you said you would have them in team colors.” You looked pointedly at Dean in his black shirt and red flannel and Sam in his black shirt and green flannel. “You’re not even in Yankee colors. I can’t be seen at a Yankees game with the man I love in the wrong team’s colors. So you lost that agreement.”

“One shirt.” He said as he followed you and the boys in the direction of the team store. “That’s all.”

“One shirt.” You agreed with a smile.

“My dad told me you have a library in your house.” Sam said as he slowed down a bit to walk beside you, wanting to actually get to know you.

“I do.” You said with glance down at him. “I hear you enjoy learning as much as I do. What’s your favorite subject?”

“It depends.” He said with a major shrug. “I like math but not when it’s too easy. I like the challenge. But I really like history.”

“History was one of my favorites, too. If you want, I know I have a bunch of history books and I’m pretty sure I have my old school textbooks at my house. I can bring them over to your dad’s for you to read if you want.”

“Really? Cool!” You smiled as he ran ahead to share the news with his brother.

“You’re just gunna buy their love, aren’t you?” John teased as he reached out and grabbed your hand.

“It’s not my intention… but if it will gets Dean to stop side eyeing me when he’s not staring at my tits, then yes.”

“He what?!”

“Leave it, John.” You laughed as you stepped into the store behind the boys. “It’s fine. I’ve got nice tits.”

“My tits.” He growled in your ear as he put Gizmo’s bag on your shoulder. “And I will remind you of it tonight.”

“Go find a shirt!” You giggled as you pushed his shoulder. “The game is starting soon.”

——

“So you like… hang out with these guys.” Dean said as he sat on the edge of his seat during the top of third inning. “Like go to dinner, hang out at bars with them, all of it.”

“We’re friends, yea.” You said with a nod as you looked over his head at John, who was on the other side of his sons watching them interact with his girlfriend with a smile. “I go to a lot of charity benefits with them or their girlfriends or wives. Not so much the club though.”

“So do you know like celebrities?” He asked as he looked over at you.

“I know some.” You laughed. “I’ve been in New York since I was 18, and I’m a twin.”

“You’re a twin?” He interrupted as he looked back out at the game for a moment as the top of the third ended with a no hit strike out. “No shit.”

“Watch your mouth.” John said as he held a small water bowl in his hand for Gizmo, who was loving the attention Sam was giving him.

“I am a twin.” You confirmed. “And I get confused with my sister more times than not. So does she. Her friends have become mine and mine, hers. And we both do a lot of different charity work so we meet celebrities doing that, too.”

“Wow.” He said with a nod as he looked out at the field. “Have you ever done a threesome with her?”

“Dean!”

“No!” You laughed as you grabbed your beer, and glanced at John again. “No, not at all.”

“Alright, you’re done.” John said as he stood up. “Move, Dean.”

“Aw, come on!” He complained as you and he both sat back in your chairs so John could stand in front of you to switch seats with his oldest. With a death glare, he subtly whacked the back of his son’s head on the way past. 

“We’ll talk about this later.” John growled at him as he took a step back and sat down beside you. “I’m sorry…”

“Oh, don’t be.” You giggled as you reached over for his hand and laced your fingers with his. “He’s a kid. He’s allowed to be curious. At least he’s talking to me.” You looked up at your boyfriend with your eyebrows raised and nodded. “We’ve made progress there.”

“Yea, well as the parent here, I know that he should know better than to ask someone that.”

“OK.” You nodded your head, knowing that it wasn’t your place to say otherwise. “You think I’m doing OK here?” He looked down at your whisper and nodded his head.

“You’re doing great, sweetheart. Just perfect.” Your smile grew and you leaned forward to give him a kiss.

“We’re playin’ a game here, (Y/N).” Aaron Judge said, jokingly on his way to bat. “Pay attention.”

“Oh, Jesus.” You laughed as you sat back in your chair. “OK, OK! I get it!”

“This is the last time we do this.” John whispered in your ear as you finished your beer.

“Yep!”


	5. Chapter 5

“We’re coming in and setting it up today.” You told your lawyer and the financier for your winery company, Ross Vintage, on the phone as you pulled up the road to John’s place to pick him up. “But I want his annuity to be at least two hundred fifty thousand annually… yes, I’m aware that this new vineyard is going to need time to grow…” You rolled your eyes violently as you grabbed your bag and got out of the car at the curb and groaned loudly as you headed up the cracked cement walkway. “OK, can you just fucking do what I asked? There was no room for debate there. Make it happen and I will figure out the financial aspect if and when I fucking need to. I really wish you two would just…”

“…she’s paying you to fuck her!” A woman screamed as you walked into John’s house. You stopped in the doorway with your eyebrows raised as an older blonde you had only seen in photos whipped around with the check you had given John the day before for his first month’s annuity payment.

“I’m gunna have to call you back.” You said before you hung up the phone as your boyfriend jumped to his feet. “What…”

“I love you.” He said nearly under his breath as he pulled his truck keys from his jeans pocket. “But I need you to go down to the park for a little bit. Just ten minutes, then we can go. Please…”

“Um… OK.” You said with a nod as you glanced over at Mary before looking down at Bones, who was trying to rush out the door past you. “Give me his leash. I’ll just take them for a walk.”

“Oh, you’re not touching my dog.” Mary tried as she stepped around the table, but John grabbed the leash and handed the end and his keys to you a little harshly.

“Just go. Go.” He said as he clipped it to Bones’ collar at the last possible second. You turned on your heel and speed walked quickly down to his truck as Bones tried to yank your arm off, Gizmo tried to swan dive from your purse, and Mary tried to get past John to get to you. Your hands started to shake as your fear of confrontation started to kick in.

“OK, hold on. Hold on.” You said to the two dogs as you got in the drivers seat you had only been behind maybe a dozen times in your life. You had never needed your drivers license before but John had convinced you to get your learner permit so he could teach you. You tried to quickly move mirrors with tears in your eyes since your boyfriend was at least six inches taller than you with your heels on, and start the car at the same time but when you pushed on the gas, the engine made noise but the truck didn’t go anywhere. Your shaking worsened as you tried again and you jumped a bit and squeaked when the drivers side door open.

“Hey… breathe.” He said as he pulled your hands off the wheel. “Look at me, don’t look at her.” You nodded your head, and looked away from the angry blonde standing in the doorway. “You’re in neutral. So the gears aren’t engaging. I don’t want you to get hurt because you’re rushing. So do you want to just walk them down to the park instead?” You nodded your head and sniffled as you swiped at the tears on your face.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know she was here.”

“That’s OK, sweetheart. Push the brake for me.” He said as he leaned in front of you to put the truck in park. “Alright. So just take them down to the park and I’ll be there as fast as I can. OK? Everything’s alright.” You nodded your head and got out of the car with Bones’ leash in your hand. He got Gizmo’s leash on him and put your cell phone in your jacket pocket, not giving a damn that his ex was watching his every move. “Go on, Bones. Go for a walk with (Y/N).” He said as calmly as possible as he put his hand between your shoulder blades and turned you toward the park a block down the road. “I’m right behind you.” With a nod, you set Gizmo down beside his friend, and headed in that direction, forcing yourself not to turn around to look when Mary started shouting a few seconds before John slammed the front door to his house. 

You were only partially paying attention as you crossed the road with the dog’s leashes held tight in one hand, and your empty dog carrier strap gripped tightly in the other but when you hit the gate of the small dog run on the side of the half block sized park, Bones and Gizmo both ignored the gate and nearly yanked your arm out of the socket to go over and smell the trash can.

“No, quit.” You scolded as you tried to pull them back in the other direction but a small dog’s whine caught your attention. Your brow furrowed and you walked over to the small, dirty box sitting in the last bit of snow on the ground. “Oh, my God. OhmyGod. Bones, come.” You yanked the larger dog back and picked up Gizmo to get them into the fenced in run so that you didn’t have to worry about them. “Shit, shit, shit. OK, it’s OK.” You said more to yourself as you crouched down beside the box and looked at the two, palm sized puppies that couldn’t have been more than a week or two old. You set your carried down and quickly took off your jacket to get to your warm undershirt and bra while your the other two dogs watched from the other side of the fence. “Keep squeaking, little babies.” You said more to yourself as you carefully scooped them up one at a time and laid them beside each other in the cup of your bra. “OK, we’ll get you help. I’ll make this better.” You nodded your head as you twisted the other cup under the first and wrapped the whole thing with your tank top. 

“Babe?” John called out as you started to rub the puppies to get the warmed up. You stood up and turned with a shake of your head.

“They were just left in the box.” His brow furrowed the slightest bit as he looked down at your practically see through shirt, and then the small bundle in your hands.

“Holy shit.” He said as he sped up to help. “Put them in the carrier like that with Giz. I’ll take Bones home…”

“We have to get them to my vet.” You said with a nod as you crouched down and threw your jacket to the side. “If they make it, I’m keeping them…”

“That’s fine.” He said as he got Gizmo out of the dog run and passed him to you. “We were headed that way anyways.”

“Shit, the meeting.” You groaned as you settled your dog in the carrier and looked up for a moment to see and take John’s long sleeved under shirt.

“We’ll just be late…”

“No… we can… we can just move it.” You said as you carefully stood up with the carrier in both hands. “I’ll just have them meet me at the house. We’ll do tapas for lunch. Make it look like we’re some what respectable, right?” You looked over at John as he dropped your jacket over your shoulders with a nod.

“That way you can actually put a bra on, too. See through yellow isn’t the most respectable…”

“Dog lives are more important than a nip slip.” You huffed with a small smile as you walked carefully and looked down to watch Gizmo carefully lay his head across the small, whimpering bundle he was curled around. “Wait, what happened with Mary?”

“She’s still a bitch.” He sighed as he put his hand on the small of your back to guide you across the road to his truck. “She’s just mad that I don’t have to pay alimony anymore. Last month was the last month. But I even warned her it was coming. I warned her that it has been in the divorce settlement since day one. She just didn’t wanna listen. Here, let me hold the bag while you get in.” John said as he opened the passenger door of his truck for you. After you passed off the bag, you pulled your jacket off to put it across your lap, took your phone out of the pocket to make some calls, and carefully took the bag back and set it on your lap. “Let me put Bones up, then we’ll go.” You nodded your head and looked into the bag again to see Gizmo looking back up at you.

“It’s OK, baby boy.” You told him as you reached in to make sure both puppies were covered. “We’ll get them safe.” He gave you a small lick as you laid your hand across the puppies and he laid his head down across your knuckles to protect his new babies with you.

“Alright. Where am I going?”

“Go to my house.” You said with a look over at him. “My vet is a couple blocks away.” He nodded his head as he handed you a beanie and a scarf.

“Keep ‘em warm, baby.” With a nod, you started to add the new layers as John started the truck and pulled away from his house. “She’s gunna take me back to court. She saw that check from the vineyard, basically called me a prostitute, and said she was going back to file for either more alimony or higher child support.”

“John, why don’t you fight it?” You asked with a glance over at him. “You said it yourself, they always complain about having to leave. If she’s gunna file anyways, why don’t you counter for primary custody.”

“I can’t do that to her.” He said with a shake of his head. “She’s the mother of my kids…”

“Who is demanding more money from you, and using your son’s as pawns to do so.” You interrupted. “Look, I know it’s not my place, and I know I will never have a say in this fight because they aren’t my kids… but you should really think about the bigger picture here and really look at what really matters. She knows you are part of my company now, and she knows we are dating. The first thing she did when she realized you were making more money is start a fight over it. On top of that, your boys prefer to be at your house over hers. And they have a few more YEARS of living in which ever house they are in. Why not do what you can to make them happy? Now, I’ve said my peace and I will leave it at that… but if you do wanna go for custody, you don’t have to pay child support and I have a really good lawyer that will help. Speaking of which, I need to call him, and have him go to my house and I need to call Jeff to make something for lunch.”

“You are such a pain in my ass.” He huffed as he headed across the bridge with a smile on his face.

“You love me.” You said as you put your phone to your ear.

“Yea… I do.” He said with a nod as he looked over at you out of the corner of his eyes, so grateful to have you in his life. 

——

You knew that you had lost John within the first twenty minutes of your lawyer’s spiel of going over the contract he had written up for you. It didn’t help that your business manager was throwing in numbers, while your financier kept trying to change those numbers out loud. You got to the point where you simply held up your hand toward the three men and reached out to touch John’s hand.

“Where did we lose you?”

“Couldn’t tell you.” He said with a shake of his head as he flipped back a couple pages to the list of businesses under the Ross Vintage name and their income and expenses beside them. “What is this? I thought you had five wineries…”

“OK, let me show you this.” You said as you pulled the paper toward you a bit. “Ross Vintage is the umbrella name at the top. Think of it like Macy’s. Same concept. It’s the brand. Now, under that brand, I have five wineries. Theses ones here. Annually, they make a grand total of 2.3 billion dollars from 15 different kinds of wine. So 15 different clothing brands within Macy’s. With me so far?” He nodded his head as you covered the numbers with your hand and pointed to the next set. “Now, I have 19 different vineyards supplying those wines. So the grapes are coming from 19 different fields. Those are these. In total, those vineyards total roughly 365 acres. The split up here isn’t important but for all of it, I pay about a little over 2.1 million to keep them all running, keep all my employees paid, their health care, wine bottles all of it. So I make about 250 million give or take.”

“OK, that works. So I’m taking home one percent of that.”

“You are.” You nodded as you looked over at him. “But it’s going to be a slightly fixed amount. If my total take home is less than two fifty mil, you’re still going to get two hundred and fifty thousand annually. Just so you’re not bouncing back and forth between two tax brackets. But if we make, say three hundred million, your one percent goes up to three hundred thousand. Because you’ll be in that same tax bracket either way. Still with me?”

“So what was the other part here?” He asked as he flipped to a later page. “The years thing?”

“That’s an insurance policy of sorts. It means that the Winchester family, meaning Sam and Dean, and their children and their children’s children, etcetera, will always own one percent of Ross Vintage. Permanently. Jen cannot change that. The only person that can is me and you together. And I’m not petty. So as long as the company is making money, you will be receiving money. That money will be either deposited directly into the account or accounts of your choice or will be paid out on the first of every month by check from Ross Vintage directly. Which means I give, or send you a check from that bank account, not my personal one. If that’s your choice, I’ll have an official receipt book for both our records.” John nodded silently as you flipped to the next page, and continued. “Now this just says that you have the option of health care for you and the boys. That’s something that can be figured out later if you want. It’s not mandatory at all. This part talks about the amount you are putting in to your piece of the stock, which I took out of the first check I gave you, so we’re square on that. This part reiterates that Jen cannot take your part of the company from you should something happen to me, God forbid.

Then we have a confidentiality part. You’re agreeing that anything you learn about my wine, or my wineries, or at my vineyards will not be sold to any competitors. That one, unfortunately, will be something I will attack legally. So you have to know that up front. Not that I think you would, it just has to be said, you know. Multi-billion dollar company. I signed the same thing with James. Jen did, too. So it has to be added. This is a mediation clause. Say we break up in a year, and ten years down the line, you don’t like the way I’m doing something, this lets you know how to go about setting up mediation to fix it. Which also works if something happens to me, and you have to deal with Jen.

Here we have a paragraph about what happens if you’d like to back out of this contract. You just let me know, we will square up whatever is left of that year, and that will be it. If we… meaning you and I, are not speaking, it gives your lawyer information of how to contact me or Ross Vintage directly. And this last paragraph says that after my death, as long as it’s of natural causes, my 59% of Ross Vintage will be split between you, and Jen or it will be divided in a 33.3% split between my, your, and her children, or fifty/fifty if it’s still you and her. Could be some sort of variation depending on who’s still alive, but you get the idea. So you just…”

“You did what?” He asked as he whipped toward you, and threw off his reading glasses so quickly, he jarred the entire table and startled the three other men who were eating the lunch spread of finger foods Jeff had put out for you, and talking under their breaths amongst themselves. “(Y/N)…”

“Just sign the papers, John.” You said with a nod as you held up your pen. “Sign.”

“Babe…”

“Baby…” You said with a smile. “Sign the papers.” He shook his head as he took the pen from you with shaky hands. His teary eyes found yours again and he tried to blink them back, so you reached out to hold his hand. “Can you guys give us a minute?” Your lawyer hummed as he grabbed the tray of finger sandwiches, and headed toward the back garden you rarely used.

“Baby, you can’t do this.” He choked as he squeezed your hand. “This is way too much.”

“No, it’s not.” You said with a shake of your head. “It’s not enough. John, you have brought joy into my life again. You have brought love into my life again. I could never, ever repay you for that. The only thing I can do is show you, for as long as you’ll let me, that I am so grateful to have you in my life. And this… gives you the chance to fall in love with life again. 

It gives you the chance to pay for the parts you need for your car so you can spend the afternoon getting dirty and covered in grease so you and Dean can finish it together. And it gives you the chance to take a day off work to let him skip school to take Sam to the Museum of Natural History so he can learn his little heart out. And you can watch the sparkle in that boy’s eye when he rattles off facts that you may think are the most useless things in the entire world, but that make him feel smarter than he already is. This gives you a chance to let them explore something outside the five boroughs, and it gives you a chance to know when you retire, you’re all set. 

It gives you a chance to not have to worry about Mary and her stupid alimony payments and her bullshit attempt to suck child support out of you. It gets you out of that credit card debt you think you’re hiding from me by shoving the envelopes under that bowl of fake fruit on the dinner table. I saw them, you lose. It will get you out of the house that you and your wife lived in, that really needs so much work done to it, and you know it does. I’m sorry, I had to say it.

This right here gives you your life back. It gets you out of getting up at 5 am to work all day in shit conditions to come home dog tired and have to do it again the next day on no sleep with a bad back if you want to. And it’s not too much where you can’t still teach your sons how to stand on their own two feet, and work for what they want but gives them a cushion to fall back on if they need it. So please, for the love of everything. Sign the papers.” He shook his head slowly as he searched your eyes while you simply sat back in your chair. “I’d sit here all day, but we have two puppies that we have to go pick up, and we’ll probably have to feed them every three hours… and please know that when you do sign, I’m going to slip into home buying mode to find you a new house you can spend your new income on. It’s way past time you get out of that one.”

“Jesus, of course you are.” He huffed as he rubbed his face and sighed loudly. “Fuck, baby girl. Now you’re gunna be stuck with me, you know that right? I can’t lose your kind heart.”

“It’s all part of my masterplan, John.” You teased as you crossed your legs and gestured for your lawyer to come back in. “I secretly want to be a sugar mama.”

“Shut up.” He laughed as he picked up his reading glasses “Alright, where am I signing?”

“OK, we have a few places for you to sign.” You lawyer said as he set the half empty sandwich tray down. “And then you’ll be a proud, super exclusive member of the Ross Vintage family.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey sweetheart. What are you doing?” John asked as he walked into his house after work. You glanced up at him and shrugged as you quickly tried to exit out of Zillow app you had open on your iPad while you hand feed Tinkerbell and Periwinkle the puppy formula your vet had given you for your thankfully healthy, three week old Bichons Frises. “No, freeze!” He said as he ran over and ripped the iPad away from you since he knew exactly what you were doing. “Oh, you’re not even trying to look in Brooklyn…”

“It’s just so far away!” You whined with a huff. “I want you close to me.”

“Baby, you have the thing set for a minimum of six million dollars!” Your pout disappeared and was replaced with an unsuccessfully hidden smile.

“I didn’t know that.”

“You did that on purpose, so don’t give me that.” He said as he set your tablet back on your thigh and sat down beside you with a sigh. “How much longer do you think it’s going to take me to realize that I’m not gunna be living in Brooklyn anymore because of you?”

“Whenever you realize that your house… after being on the market for only a week, sold.” You looked over at him for a moment as you picked up Tinkerbell and passed her to him. “You got an offer this morning fifty thousand over what you asked for. I told the guy you’d call tonight when you got home. So you have to move. And I was thinking… since I live in my house basically alone now since Jen is basically living in France right now… maybe, I could just sell it and we could get a place together in Manhattan since both of us work over there and the school districts are better over there and you love me so much, and pretty please, I will love you forever, please move to Manhattan with meeeee…..” You pouted out your bottom lip and looked down at the two puppies on your thigh before taking away Periwinkle’s syringe and setting it off to the side.

“Sweetheart…” He sighed as he took Tinkerbell from you so she would finish eating so you could rub a cotton ball across Periwinkle’s snout the way the doctor told you so that she would use the bathroom (since that’s apparently what mother dogs do with kisses instead of cotton balls.) “I’ve lived in Brooklyn for years…”

“Yea, and why is that?” You said without looking up so you didn’t mess up what you were doing. “You moved from Kansas because you honeymooned in Manhattan. You wanted to live in Manhattan. And the only reason you couldn’t live in Manhattan is because of the price.”

“Please say Manhattan one more time.” He chuckled as he pulled the training pad you had on your thigh to the other side so he could reach it as well to do the same thing with Tinkerbell.

“The only thing holding you back is Mary since I know for a fact you are gunna get primary custody if you move the boys to a better school district than the one they’re in now. But we can stay in the Tribeca area so that we’re only a half hour drive. And the UES is only 45 minutes away…”

“I need to stop leaving you at home with any sort of technology.” He sighed as he set the cotton ball aside when his puppy did her business so he could finally say hello to Bones and Gizmo who were staring at him, impatiently for their love. “Because you make it really, really hard to tell you no.” Your head whipped over to him as he kept a completely straight face and his eyes closed while scratching Gizmo on his lap, and Bones’ head on his thigh with the puppy laying on his chest. “You can stop staring at me now. You knew before I even walked in the house I was saying yes. Especially with that convincing argument.”

“You are way to good for me, baby.” You said as you laid Periwinkle on his chest as well and gave him a chaste kiss. “I’ll even make dinner.”

“Nope.” He called out with a shake of his head. “I need to sell this house, not have you burn it down by accident. Order a pizza.”

“Yes sir.” You said as you sat back down and turned the TV on. “So Upper East Side.”

“Try Midtown. Moderately priced condos. And you should start with the address I have in my pocket.” He said as he rolled his head on the back of the couch to look over at you.

“What address?!” You demanded as you quickly scrambled across the couch to search his pockets, making Gizmo jump off John’s lap to get out of your way with a small yip in protest.

“The address of the condo in the building I was finishing putting air conditioners in all day. I got the same call you did, sweetheart.”

“You’re such a jerk!” You laughed as you pulled the piece of paper free and sat back to look at it. “You were gunna ask me to move in?”

“I was.” He said with a slow nod as he reached out to rub his hand up your thigh to pull you closer to him by your belt loop. “But you kinda bum rushed me to the punch. And you’re just to damn cute to interrupt. And I have also realized in the last seven months that I sleep way better when I’m with you. And I always knew I wasn’t getting you to Brooklyn permanently. Oh, careful!” He chuckled and carefully moved the puppies down his chest as you wrapped your arms around his neck.

“You’re too good to me.” You whispered as you pulled back to look at him. “I love you so much, John. You have no fucking idea how grateful I am for you.”

“Oh, I know, baby girl.” He said with a nod as he reached up to brush your hair back behind your ear. “Because I’d still be lost without you. I love you, too.” You leaned forward and captured his lips with yours for a moment until he pulled back quickly when one of the puppies wiggled on his chest. “OK, look for your condo, baby. Reasonable price range, please.”

“Six mil is a reasonable price range.” You said as you sat back down beside him and grabbed your iPad again. “Let’s see what this one you found is though.”

“I’ll be right here.” He yawned as he grabbed the remote, reclined his spot on the couch, and turned on the TV to doze before dinner. “Let me know what you find.”

——

“OK, I know I have dragged you all over this island.” You said as you stood behind John on your tiptoes with your hand over your eyes. “But this one… this one is the one. I know it.”

“How much?” John asked as he shifted a little so that you weren’t straining.

“Five thousand shy of six mil.” You said as you waited just a few more seconds for the sun to set a little more.

“OK, not as bad as I would have expected… what are we waiting for?”

“Just trust me.” You said as you glanced down at the dog carrier by your feet to make sure your four week old pups were still asleep in the carrier with Gizmo. You looked back up and waited a few more seconds before deeming the purple and pink sky over the Hudson River perfect. “Alright, ready? Now imagine this as your view every night.” You smiled broadly as you pulled your hands back and stepped to the side to look at your boyfriend’s face.

“Holy shit.” He gasped as he took a step forward in the living room that ran the whole west side of the large four bedroom, four bathroom penthouse condo in Tribeca. “We’ll take it.”

“Told you.” You said to your friend, Chandra, who was your real estate agent and who had shown you nearly every available property in Manhattan. “These views alone.”

“It’s been on the market 8 days and I know it’s had three people in here today alone…”

“Then call whoever and tell them we’ll pay 6.5 cash today.” You said as John looked at the kitchen.

“OK, hang on a sec.” He chuckled. “What’s the HOA fee on this place? How many bedrooms?”

“HOA fee is a little higher than the last place at four thousand.” Chandra said as both of you followed him slowly down the hallway that lead to the large master bedroom and another bedroom that both overlooked Ellis Island.

“Just think we could put our bed facing this way.” You said as you dipped past them into the bedroom and walked over to where you would put the bed. “Then when we don’t have the boys we can just lay in bed and watch the boats and the sunset…”

“I don’t like it.” John teased as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“Oh, you have to see the boy’s views.” You said as you pulled his hand free and dragged him out of the room to the other side of the condo. “They each have their own bathroom so no more fighting about who’s taking too long in the shower.”

“Builds character.” He grumbled with a wink at your realtor.

“I was thinking this could be Sam.” You continued as you stopped in the first room. “It’s a little smaller but I figured since Dean was older he could get the slightly bigger one next door.”

“Nope, won’t work.”

“And Dean’s room is like a second master, so when he goes off to college, Sam can move in here, or we can make it a guest room or something.”

“Don’t like it.” You scowled and turned to drag him back out to the living room to show him more of the view.

“I swear to God, John Winchester, we are getting this condo whether you like it or not, so you better just say yes to me now.” You let go of his hand and turned around to glare at him with your arms over your chest. “You say yes right now.”

“No.” He said, challengingly as he too, crossed his arms over his chest.

“I’ll take puppy feeding duties for a month.”

“No, you won’t.” He laughed. “Try again.”

“I’ll actually do the laundry.”

“And turn my boxers pink? No thanks.” Your scowl turned into a smirk as you put your hands on your hips.

“I won’t put out for a month.”

“Alright! You can have it!” You squealed and jumped into his arms.

“Thank you!” You kissed his lips harshly as Chandra started texting the seller that you were going to put an offer in.

“But…” John said as he pulled back to set you down. “Jen is not taking the other bedroom.”

“I know.” You said with a shrug. “We’ll just have to have a baby to fill that room instead. Chandra, do you have paperwork I can start filling out.”

“No…” John said with a shake of his head as he turned around toward you. “No, we didn’t say anything about a baby, here. Babe… babe!”


	6. Chapter 6

You had no idea where time went with the rest of that summer. One minute, you were signing the paperwork to purchase the condo, signing more paperwork to finally put your townhouse on the market, and sorting through and moving two houses of stuff into one condo, and the next, you were sitting in court, listening to Mary try so hard to fight for more child support payments because you ‘had the means to help pay’ while John simply stood there, asking for primary custody because he had a steadier schedule with work, guaranteeing he would be home every night to help with homework. He pointed out that he was moving to a nicer neighborhood than the one he’d been living in, and into a nicer home, in a neighborhood with the best schools available only a few blocks away. 

He also pointed out that while yes, he was moving in with you, it helped solved the issue of making sure his boys got to school in the morning if and when he had to leave early for work. But since he had hired a second service manager to help tackle the ever growing air conditioner need, he was able to go into work later than he did when he was more involved. You sat a couple rows back, watching Mary scoff to herself and roll her eyes as both boys said they wanted to live with their dad; Sam who wanted to be in a better school so badly, and Dean, who ‘wanted to be in a better school’ just to have a new dating pool… not that he would ever say that last bit out lout. The judge watched like a hawk, noting every single move John and Mary made as they pled their separate cases, before he sat back and nodded his head.

“Taking a child away from one parent in favor of the other is never an easy decision.” He started as he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes for a second. “Now, in this case, I would have to agree with Mr. Winchester. While I’m personally Brooklyn born and bred, the public school districts in Manhattan are a lot better than Brooklyn’s. The schedule that Mr. Winchester has laid out with work is a little more conducive to raising kids, especially since you work in a restaurant at night more times than not, Ms. Campbell. Now from what I’m hearing, the main reason we’re here today is so you can get more money out of him now that he’s bettered himself financially. And by the way you continue to roll your eyes and scoff at everything your ex-husband has done to better your sons lives, your actions seem to solidify that all you’re after is money even more.

So, effective immediately, since the boys want it, and the situation is in the best interest of them in the long term, I’m granting Mr. Winchester primary custody, and vacating the child support agreement. Visitation will still be every other weekend, and every other holiday, and more frequently should you allow it, Mr. Winchester. That is something you and Ms. Campbell can figure out if you so wish. Case dismissed.” Mary’s jaw dropped as Sam and Dean hissed a yes; both of them were excited to live in a penthouse in Manhattan with four dogs.

“Alright boys.” John said carefully as he looked over at Mary. “Say good by to your mom. We still gotta get you enrolled in school today.” You could see the tears in Mary’s eyes from the back of the room as her son’s went over to say good bye until that weekend, where they’d be packing up the stuff they needed every day to bring to their new home. Not wanting to be a thorn in an already hard situation, you got up and headed out of the court room to wait until the boys came out to leave. 

“You’ll regret this.” Mary hissed to you and John as she walked out of the court room.

“Leave it alone, Mary. For our sons sake. Just give it a rest.” You looked away from the scorned woman’s glare as John pushed you toward the elevator.

“You OK?” You asked softly as you reached out to take his hand. He nodded his head as he laced his fingers with yours and squeezed them gently.

“Got my boys, and the woman I love at my side… I’m perfect.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I think we should go on a vacation before school starts.”

“Oh yea?” John asked as he looked over at you from the bed where you were putting the last of your books in the bookshelf headboard John had finally put together for you so you could unpack the last few boxes you had. It did make the room look a little smaller, but with the entertainment center that John had brought from his house in the living room, and the bedroom next to yours currently housing the giant DVD collection you now owned, two amazingly comfortable chairs, a 82 inch TV with surround sound, and the over two hundred bottles of wine in your collection, it was the only option you had. “Where would you wanna go?”

“Oh, that’s not up to me.” You said as you looked down to make sure you didn’t step on either one of the seven and a half week old puppies or Gizmo, who had taken on the role of being daddy to his babies, (and no longer had separation anxiety because of it) and took a step over to fill in the last cube with lighter paperback books… just in case. “We should ask the boys. See where in the world they wanna go.”

“Hey, hey!! No, no, no! Babe! Get your dog!” You turned to look over your shoulder as Periwinkle attacked the edge of John’s boxers after climbing over the wall of pillows you had made for the ‘twins’ as you called them so they didn’t fall off the bed.

“Peri, no.” You said as you quickly bent down to tap your puppy on the nose and pull her off yet another pair of your boyfriend’s underwear. You kneeled down on the waterbed you refused to part with from John’s house no matter how much you loved your bed, (which was in one of your two private storage rooms for the time being) and held your puppy up to your face. “No eating clothes. You eat your toys.”

“She’s not gunna listen to you.” He huffed as you put Peri back down in her pillow pen.

“You could make her stop, too, John. You are just as capable of being a puppy parent as I am.”

“I didn’t sign up for being a puppy parent again.” He sighed as he changed the channel from the end of the news to the end of the baseball game. “You did. You said time and time again that they were your babies. And I warned you… I warned you…”

“You’re gunna take them all for a w-a-l-k with me, right?” You looked over at him with a smile as you moved the pillow closest to you away so you could cuddle with your fur children. “Or am I gunna have to ask Sam to stop his summer reading to help?” He looked over at you as you snuggled Tink up against your cheek, and pouted out your bottom lip. “Please, Daddy. Please take us for a w-a-l-k so Mommy doesn’t have to go all alone where cab drivers can whistle at her and yell out vulgar things like asking if her tits are real…”

“Oh, alright.” He grumbled as he set his remote down and got out of bed to get dressed. 

“Yay!” You cheered as you picked up both puppies and put them on the floor. “We’re going for a walk!” Gizmo shot off the bed like a rocket and Bones got up from the floor where he slept slowly to lead the way toward the front door where the leashes were. You threw on a pair of shorts and grabbed John’s work shirt from the laundry basket on your way after your dogs, who were yipping and tackling each other just because they could.

“Boys! Let’s take the dogs out!” You heard Dean grumble about having to pause his video game but by the time you finished putting on your shoes, both he and Sam were there to help put leashes on all the dogs. “So (Y/N) was thinking about planning a last minute vacation before school starts. What do you guys think?”

“Where would we go?” Sam asked as he took Gizmo’s leash and stepped out the door into the small entry way to call the elevator.

“Well, I think I’ll leave that up to you and your brother.” You said as you carried Peri, since she wasn’t a fan of the elevator. “Sky’s the limit. It’ll give you an easy grade when you have to write what you did over the summer, because every teacher in the world makes you write those stupid papers.”

“Can we go to Universal?” Dean asked, excitedly, before checking himself to act cool. “I mean, I just saw the commercial, and it looks alright.”

“Yeah! Universal!” Sam agreed with a nod. “That’d be so cool!”

“We can do Universal if that’s what you two agree on.” You said as the elevator doors opened on the ground floor.

“What are you gunna do about these four?” John asked as he lead Tink out side for a short walk around the building because Dean was much to ‘manly’ to walk a small puppy like her.

“Bring them.” You said with a shrug as you put your Bichon puppy down to walk beside her sister. “And find a pet sitter that’ll let them out while we’re at the parks… or I’ll call my mom to come stay with them.”

“You’re gunna have your mother fly to Florida to stay in a hotel room for a week just to stay with the dogs we can leave at home and pay someone to house sit?” You looked over at your boyfriend with a smile and nodded.

“She loves Florida. She’d be happy to come visit. She prefers the night life there anyways.” John nodded slowly as your little family stopped to let the three smaller dogs use the bathroom. “You’re still scared to meet my mother, aren’t you?”

“I have heard the two of you on the phone. I’m not scared of her, I’m scared of both of you together.”

“Oh, we’re not that bad.” You giggled as you passed him a poop bag because he was the closest to the grass.

“Sure you’re not.” He muttered as Sam ran to catch up with Dean and Bones. “This is gunna be an interesting vacation.”

——

“What are you doing here?” You asked Jen the second you stepped out of the car at the private airport. She smirked as she continued to lean on the stairs beside some steroid enhanced looking dude you didn’t know, who was looking quite casual sitting on the stairs.

“Heard you were going to see mom.” She replied with a shrug. “Figured I’d tag along.”

“Of course you did.” You muttered with a shake of your head. “And who are you bringing along with you like a prized trophy?”

“Babe…” John warned as the man stood up in a Mets shirt of all things.

“That’s Tim Tebow.” Dean breathed in awe. “No way.”

“Way.” Jen said with a nod, just trying to egg you on. “And who might you be handsome?”

“Dean Winchester.” He said as he stuck his hand out. “Nice to make your acquaintance.”

“Dean, come help with the bags.” John called out over your subtle growl beside him. “You be nice.” You couldn’t help but roll your eyes as you picked up the slightly larger dog carrier that had the three smaller dogs snuggled inside but you froze for a half second when you were tapped on the shoulder.

“Let me help.” Tim said with a friendly smile.

“I’ve got them. They’re just babies so I’m protective.”

“What kind of dogs?” He asked as he turned to help John unpack the trunk. He chuckled as he watched Sam try to wrangle Bones up the stairs into the plane because he was dying to see the inside of a private jet since he had never flown anywhere before. 

“We have a golden retriever, an Italian Greyhound, and two Bichons. I don’t travel without them.”

“Understandable.” You nodded since you didn’t really have much more to say to him before turning around to grab your Louis Vuitton duffle that had everything you would need on the plane for the pups.

“Hey.” John said softly before you turned away. You looked up at his brown eyes as he took a pointed deep breath. “Relax. We’re here for the boys, remember? Family vacation. You and I both know that she’s just picking on you because she can, OK? That’s your sister.”

“She’s just… grrr!”

“Yea, I know. But unfortunately, you share a face, and a blood line, and all of your DNA, so you have to tolerate her antics.” You sighed and looked up at him as Giz shifted his spot in the bag, causing the whole thing to shift.

“I hate when you keep me calm like that.”

“I know you do.” He chuckled as he kissed your forehead. “Come on, let’s go to Florida in the summer heat.”

——

“Moje dziewczynki!” Your mom, Nadia shouted through the lobby of the Royal Pacific Resort.

“This was a bad idea.” You said as you took a step back in to John as your tiny mother with a larger than life personality came running over with your father right behind her.

“How are my babies?! I haven’t seen you in forever!” She said in Polish, which was her first language since it was what her grandparents taught her first when she lived with them.

“English, momma.” You sighed before Jen jumped in and responded in Polish. You looked up at your dad, Ben, who had always been more on your side because your mom was usually on Jen’s and smiled. “Hi daddy.”

“How’s my girl doing?” He asked as he pulled you in for a hug. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too. I’d like you to meet John, and his two boys, Dean and Sam.”

“So you’re the man that fixed my daughter’s heart.” Ben said as he shook your boyfriend’s hand, firmly.

“I’ve tried.” He chuckled with a nod. “She doesn’t make it easy.”

“She’s a little firecracker.” Your dad teased. “But we love her all the same. And you two… are you ready for a fun week in the parks? Don’t worry, we’re not coming with you. I deal with enough people at work, I don’t need to go to a park full of them.” The two boys nodded and shook his hand as your mom yanked your arm to turn you toward her.

“Why do you not come see me anymore? Is this man keeping you in New York?”

“Ma, for fucks sake.” You sighed as you gave her a hug. “English! He speaks English. You’re not having secret conversations behind his back…”

“I will speak whatever language I want.” She snapped, still in Polish, as she reached into her Birkin with a shrug. “We paid for your room, so you’re all checked in. We upgraded you to the Presidential Suite so that I’m at least comfortable as I’m puppy sitting my little grand fur children. We got a cabana by the pool and hired a dog sitter for the day so we can all enjoy it together.” You sighed and took your key cards, knowing there was no arguing with your mother, especially in public.

“There was a reason we were in the rooms we were in.” You said pointedly in English so your boyfriend had a general idea what you were saying before switching to Polish. “I need you to not undermine me this week. John is choosing to raise his kids a certain way even though he has money to instill values they would still have learned if it wasn’t for me. So respect that.” John reached out and rubbed the small of your back, making you turn toward him to calm yourself down.

“Should we go check out the rooms?”

“We’re in the Presidential Suite now.” You said as you looked at the two sets of key cards in your hand. “With a connecting suite for the boys it looks like. And it’s paid for.”

“OK.” John said with a nod as he looked over at his sons, knowing that you were already tense with having to deal with both your mother and your sister at the same time. “Sammy, give me Bones. You two get the cart. Do NOT run it into people, and do NOT run with it either.”

“Come on, dad.” Dean said as he grabbed the back bars while Sam jumped on the front before his brother realized that he wasn’t really helping. “We’re responsible.”

“Yea, my ass, you’re responsible.”

“Are you coming, or are we vacationing in the lobby?” Jen called out over her shoulder in Polish just to piss you off with her arm laced with Tim’s, knowing that you hated speaking other languages in front of people that didn’t know those languages.

“Such a bad idea.” You sighed as you set the duffle of dog stuff on the top of the other suitcases. “Why did I think this was a good idea?”

“Because you wanted my boys to have some last minute fun after a hard summer break.” John said with a smile as he laced his free hand with yours. “Just breathe, baby girl. We’ll go to the parks tomorrow with just us, right? We can make it until them.”

——

“Boys, you ready to go?” John called out from the kitchen in your suite as he made sure that Bones didn’t use his size to intimidate the puppies for the all wet food he coveted.

“Does this look OK?” You asked as you stepped out of your room in a white, sleeveless crop top with a strappy black bra underneath, one of Dean’s red flannel shirts tied round your waist, a pair of short black shorts, and a pair of your ever present black heels.

“One, shoes off. Put the sneakers on. Two… did you shrink one of my shirts?”

“It’s Dean’s.” You huffed as you kicked your heels off. “I’m so short without heels!”

“Trust me…” He said as he bent down to pick up the four dog bowls to leave them on the counter for your mom and dad. “You will thank me tonight when your feet are not falling off. No, the sneakers!” He chuckled when you walked out in wedges.

“Hate you.” You grumbled as Sam came in to the living room part of your hotel room.

“I’m ready.” He said as he came over to pick at the room service breakfast you had ordered while John was in the shower.

“Brushed your teeth?” Sam nodded as you stomped out in a pair of Converse you hadn’t worn since high school at the same time Dean did.

“Wow. You are short.” Dean teased, having heard your complaining as he was getting ready.

“See!”

“Dean, don’t encourage her.” John chuckled as he put his arm around your shoulder and dramatically bent down to kiss your head. “She’s pocket sized.”

“I hate all of you.” You said as you pushed John’s side and bent down to pick up Gizmo. “You love me even though I’m short, right Giz?”

“We didn’t say we didn’t love you.” Dean said with a shrug as he looked up at his dad. “Just said you were pocket sized.”

“Alright, alright.” John laughed as you kissed your fur child and put him back down while your parents just let themselves into the room.

“Hope everyone’s dressed!” Nadia called out as she walked in. “Oh, little babies!” She cooed as she bent down to get kisses from the dogs, forcing your dad to stop in the doorway to wait for her to move.

“They’re gunna need to go out in the next few minutes.” John said since he knew the morning routine better than you did since all he usually did was tell you to come help him walk the pups. “Leashes are here- colors match up with collars. Bones will pull a little bit until you hit the grass but he’s fine after that.”

“Periwinkle hates elevators.” You said as you made a quick cup of coffee to take on the boat with you while John triple checked the small backpack to make sure the Brita water bottles, the external batter pack for all four of your cell phones, and the bottle of sunscreen were all ready to bring into the park. “She’s the purple collar. Just carry her or she’ll get nervous and pee and it starts a chain reaction. Other three are just fine. They’ll nap most of the day, but the babies get one of the small cups of the wet food in the fridge for lunch and the big dogs don’t need anything until dinner. Feed the babies lunch in the bathroom at noon so the bigger dogs don’t try to steal their food. Bones is fine to go in our room when you get back and he’ll stay in there most of the day to just sleep but don’t let the puppies in there to bother him. He’s our old boy and we let him be. And Giz won’t go in without them. If you just close him in, he’ll knock if he wants to come out. And you saw the dinner routine last night.”

“Don’t leave anything on the floor, near the floor, or within reach of those little monsters.” John said as he tapped Dean’s arm and pointed to his open bedroom door. “They chew everything.”

“The puppies have training pads in a few places that they’re figuring out. If you don’t wanna take them outside every couple hours, just put them on the pad and wait a couple minutes, they’re good about it. And other than just getting into everything when they’re awake, they are little angels.” You said with a smile. “Just like me.”

“Yea, just like you.” Ben laughed as your mom finally stood up to come into the room. You double checked your cellphone case, which had your ID, your black AmEx card, your room key, which was also your express pass, and a couple hundred dollars in cash just in case and looked up just as your mother was handing Sam a small wad of cash as secretly as she could.

“No!” You said as you shook your finger at her, and put your phone in your pocket. “No, don’t give him money… Mom, I swear…” Your eyes narrowed as she smiled broadly and held the same small wad of cash toward Dean and that made you snap in Polish; which was super rare. “If you give him that money, I will break your legs, cover you in honey, and shove you over the edge of a cliff into a pit of fire ants.” Your mother gasped and your dad looked over at you from putting leashes on the dogs, absolutely appalled.

“(Y/N) Karina (Y/L/N) Ross!” He nearly shouted as your mom spit angrily in your direction, telling you you had really messed up and that she did not like your attitude. “If she wants to give them money, that’s her right.”

“They’re the closest things I have to grand babies!” Your mom said in a forced crying tone. “You won’t give me any!”

“Well I’m sorry that my husband died, and I had to fall in love again.” You defended as you grabbed your sunglasses off the dresser in your room. “You talk to him if you want grand babies.” Your mother and father both looked over at John, who had absolutely no idea what you were saying since he didn’t speak Polish, and you lunged to stop the conversation from happening. “No, we have to go. All of us have to go. We’ve got rides, you got puppies. Let’s go. Boys, you ready?” Sam and Dean both quickly pocketed their cash, grabbed a handful each of the strawberries that were left, and darted out the door, dying of laughter.

“Walk. Walk, walk, walk.” John said a little harshly as he eyed your mother’s slightly predatory gaze while your dad finished leashing up the dogs. With quick goodbyes over your shoulder to the fur children, you got cornered in the elevator by all three Winchester men.

“Where we not supposed to take the money?” Sam asked before John cut him off.

“What did you say to her?!” You couldn’t help but smirk as you looked up at the suddenly very interesting ceiling.

“I told her if she gave the boys that money I’d break her legs, cover her in honey, and throw her off a cliff into a pit of fire ants.”

“Oh, sweetheart.” John groaned over the laughter fit Dean and Sam burst into, knowing that the only reason you would say something like that was because your mother annoyed you as much as your sister did. Which was a lot… and all the damn time. “You can’t let her get to you like that.”

“She called your kids her grand babies and asked me when you were giving her her own grand babies. It’s not even seven thirty in the morning yet.”

“God, what the hell am I gunna do with you?” He asked as you all stepped out of the elevator and headed over to the boats that took you over to the parks.

“Help me with the body?” You smiled up at him as he shook his head, and pulled out his wallet to pass out everyone’s park ticket cards, and make sure he had his, Sam’s, and Dean’s room keys. “How much she give you, anyways?”

“Five hundred bucks.” Dean said as he pulled out his wallet and the money to put the cash and his ticket away.

“She said to buy whatever we wanted.” Sam chimed in as he lead your group onto the boat.

“Of course she did.” You sighed as you grabbed a seat. You looked up at John and shook your head. “I tried.”

“It’s fine, sweetheart.” He said with a nod as he put his arm around your shoulders to pull you into his side so he could kiss your forehead. “It’s a vacation. And now, it’s just you, me, and the boys. Hanging out at the park in the hot Florida weather, no where near your sister or your mother. It’s a perfect day.”

“True.” You agreed with a nod as you leaned into his side. “Thank you, my love.”

“Of course, sweetheart.”

——

“Hey (Y/N)?” Sam said softly as the two of you waited for John and Dean to ride the Rip Rocket rollercoaster for the third time. You hummed and looked over at him as he played with the reed interactive wand he had bought that morning in Diagon Alley. “How come you don’t like your mom?” You huffed as you shook your head. 

“It’s complicated, Sammy.” You said as you leaned against the rails behind you. “You see, you and I are a lot a like. We both like to read, and learn. We prefer the company of books over people. My dad understood that, but my mom didn’t. At first it was OK. I just studied, she left me alone… until my sister and I got to middle school age. She joined the track team at boarding school and I convinced my advisor to let me do my first independent studies class on top of my required four.”

“What class was it?”

“That year was Latin one. Which is a really cool language that I could teach you, if you want. But, as my sister regularly pointed out, that made me a nerd. And my mother agreed with her. Because she didn’t understand that learning Latin was my sport. And studying my butt off to get as close to a perfect grade as possible was my Super Bowl. So… you know how your dad tells Dean to stop picking on you? My mom didn’t do that. She would just laugh when I told her Jen was picking on me. Said it built character. So after a year or so, I just stopped telling her.”

“That’s not very nice.” Sam said, making you nod in agreement.

“No, it’s not. No one should get picked on for being different or being studious. But we can’t control what other people do. You can’t stop Dean from picking on you, like I can’t stop my sister from picking on me. We have no say on how our parents react to them. What I can do though, is find people that accept me for who I am. Like you, and Dean, and your dad. When you get older, you surround yourself with people that are more like you. Just like I did. I have friends that I go see at the comic book store in Manhattan that genuinely care about what’s going on in my life. And the woman that owns the book store I go to all the time. She’ll sit for hours, and talk to me about her newest favorite books, and mine. And I have girl friends I have lunch with when you boys and your dad are at work, and people that I was in school with that call me when they come to New York. They don’t pick on me for being smart. Just like the friends you’ll make when you graduate high school and go to college.

But when it comes to my mom, I can’t change the fact that she doesn’t understand me. I can’t change the fact that she didn’t stand up for me. It just is what it is, you know? I speak seven languages and I took enough classes to graduate the summer of my sophomore year of high school. I took my SAT’s in eighth grade and got 1460. I’m not like them. And that’s what makes me special as an identical twin. But I’ve held on to anger and that hurt for so many years that everything my mom and my sister do now is always suspect. My dad didn’t sit down and tell me that it was OK to be smart the way I needed him too. He just told me to ignore it which made me feel like the weird one. But despite all that, I still love them. My mom was the first person I called when I met your dad. And she was sitting front row when I gave my valedictorian speech. We’re just not as close as her and my sister are.”

“So should I give the money back to her?” He asked innocently, which made you smile, and shake your head.

“No, sweetheart. You can keep the money. That’s a complicated subject. Not something for you to worry about. Gives me something to practice my Polish, right?”

“You’re not gunna be mad?” With a small giggle, you put your arm around his shoulder, and shook your head.

“No buddy, I promise I’m not.”

“So can I get an ice cream?”

“How ‘bout I pay, and we split the ice cream?” You said as you turned your head to look at him. “Then you can spend that money on a cool t-shirt or something. Sound good?” He nodded his head as you both stood up to head over to the little stand alone shop. “Just… don’t tell your dad I let you spoil your dinner.”

“Deal.”


End file.
